Mechanical Orchard

Mechanical Orchard is leading one of the biggest — yet quietly dramatic — tech transformations imaginable. With the help of AI, they're migrating the vast stores of data trapped inside mainframes to the cloud. And they couldn't have picked a better time. The developers who can communicate with mainframes in legacy language COBOL are literally retiring. And the many enormous companies that depend on these machines are missing out on the AI revolution that could change their businesses.

Exactly how many companies and dollars are impacted? We were shocked to learn that $13 trillion of the U.S. economy relies on mainframe systems today. 71% of the Fortune 500 needs them to function, and collectively spends more than $20B annually buying and maintaining them. 44 out of the top 50 banks, 10 out of 10 top insurers, 23 out of 25 top retailers. All mainframes. Every time you swipe your credit card or buy an airplane ticket. All of it hinges on layers upon layers of spaghetti code, totally inscrutable inside these big, beige, humming boxes.

But with Mechanical Orchard, this will soon change. AI is making it possible to move vital data safely and effectively without disrupting critical operations. The company is able to comprehend the byzantine code inside mainframes, decipher what's active, what's dead, what should be moved, and what should be left. The AI then makes it easy for their engineers to rebuild cleaner and more versatile versions of necessary data on the cloud.

Mechanical Orchard is led by Rob Mee, hailed founder of Pivotal Labs, who's now applying all his experience combining software and services to deliver excellent outcomes in new ways. Already, the company is working with massive, multi-national customers, helping them work with their data much more easily, take advantage of opportunities unlocked by AI, and integrate new revenue models (all with greater transparency and control). We're so thrilled to have led their Series A to help them reach even more companies around the world.