Backbone PLM raises $8 million in capital

BOULDER — Backbone PLM, a Boulder-based tech company that helps businesses design and manage their products, raised $8 million in a Series A fund raise.

The company, which provides product lifecycle management for brands like Warby Parker, Allbirds, StitchFix and Outside Voices, was founded by two brothers who have long been in the consumer goods business, Matthew and Andrew Klein.

The Kleins were looking for a way to update the old, slow, cumbersome systems that were used for the design and production of manufactured goods while also creating a system that would streamline the process and ease time to market. Meanwhile, there was a growing number of new retail companies that were selling products direct-to-consumers.

“The lightbulb went off that there was a better way to create products and keep up with competition,” Matthew Klein, CEO, told BizWest. “We wanted to create a platform for the modern consumer goods company with a goal for our solution to power the next 50,000 product companies.”

Klein said that when companies are designing products, they have to keep track of data regarding manufacturing challenges, size specifications, building materials, the cost of the products and what materials will be used. That data needs to exist somewhere, and it was either being stored with expensive and slow legacy tech companies or being spliced together DIY-style from different applications.

Backbone PLM’s cloud-based solution stores all that data in a centralized location.

With the $8 million in financing, Backbone plans to grow its marketing and growth strategy as well as launch new features in the fourth quarter. Backbone is also priced based on the functionalities needed, so it can serve the freelancer to the large company.

Backbone PLM has 25 employees in Boulder with plans to double that by the end of next year, Klein said. The company recently moved to a new location at 1801 13th St. in Boulder.

For the Kleins, who are originally from New York, being in Boulder is the perfect fit.

“Boulder felt like a great home base for us,” Matthew Klein said. “There is a growing tech scene here with lots of amazing companies. It allows us to cover both coasts with a couple hour flight. And we love the mountains and culture here.”

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