Automation Hero raises $14.5 million to help companies automate repetitive processes

SalesHero, a platform that meshes robotic process automation (RPA) with artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses automate repetitive software-based processes, has raised $14.5 million in a series A round of funding led by Atomico, with participation from Baidu Ventures and Cherry Ventures. The San Francisco-based startup also announced that it is now called Automation Hero -- a name-change that reflects its renewed focus beyond sales teams. This round takes Automation Hero's total amount raised to $19 million, following its $4.5 million seed round last April, and Atomico principle Ben Blume will now join Automation Hero's board of directors. While RPA may not be the sexiest concept to emerge from the technology sphere, it is becoming a driving force behind companies' efforts to optimize workflows through automation and machine learning. In a nutshell, RPA involves installing software that sits on top of a company's own applications and observes what an employee does at the user interface level.