Amar Hanspal, left, and Carl Bass shown here at the FORGE 2016 conference in San Francisco, have reunited to create AutoLab AI, and raised $113 million in investment of a planned $200 million round.
Amar Hanspal, who left Autodesk after being denied the CEO spot, has emerged as CEO of a Silicon Valley startup, AutoLab AI, Inc. From a US SEC regulatory filing, we also discover that none other than Carl Bass, most recent ex-CEO of Autodesk (and current board member) will be joining Hanspal as a director—and most likely as an investor.
The company has already raised $113 million with three investors and is planning for a total of $200 million for this round. AutoLab lists its offices in Palo Alto, California; however, Eclipse, a venture capital firm that does not as of yet list AutoLab in its portfolio, happens to reside at that location.
The company was incorporated in Delaware in March of this year. The company plans to be “the future of autonomous manufacturing,” according to a note left by one of the directors on his LinkedIn page.
A source close to the new company is reporting that the firm already has 400 employees and has “tens of millions of dollars in recognized revenue.” This may be due to spinning off from Flex, the $25 billion electronics company said to be the manufacturer of Fitbits, 10 months ago with a few of its customers. Flex is a minority stakeholder in AutoLab and Flex CEO, Michael McNamara, is a director. Another director is Lior Susan, former Flex executive and Steve Luczo, chairman of Seagate, the hard drive company.
Apparently still in stealth mode, Hanspal was not able to comment on this news, but did not deny any of it.