# Mechanical Orchard

Mechanical Orchard, Inc. is a San Francisco software startup, founded in October 2022 by Rob Mee, the former CEO of Pivotal, that uses AI-enhanced tooling to rebuild enterprises' aging mainframe applications as cloud-hosted code the customers own. It was incorporated in Delaware as P3 Systems, Inc. and renamed Mechanical Orchard on 3 November 2022, and it remains privately held and venture-backed as of 2026.<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup>

| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2022 (incorporated as P3 Systems, Inc.; renamed 3 November 2022)<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup> |
| Headquarters | 1 Post Street, 36th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup> |
| Founder and CEO | Rob Mee, previously founder of Pivotal Labs and CEO of Pivotal Software<sup>[3](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)</sup> |
| Sector | Legacy-system modernization; AI-enabled cloud software<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup> |
| Total raised (SEC filings) | ~$100.4 million sold across Form D offerings, including a $26.25M Series A and a $69.17M Series B<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)</sup> |
| Notable investors | GV (Series B lead), Spider Capital, Bloomberg Beta, Cendana Capital<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)</sup> |
| Status | Privately held, operating and recorded as generating revenue as of 2026<sup>[5](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/515405-53)</sup> |

## History and founding

Rob Mee founded Pivotal Labs, an agile software development consulting firm that EMC acquired in 2012; a year later it was spun out as [Pivotal Software](https://www.edgepedia.org/pivotal-software), where Mee served as CEO and the firm built and deployed Pivotal Cloud Foundry for clients.<sup>[3](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)</sup> In 2022 he founded Mechanical Orchard to apply a similar iterative, developer-centered method to a different problem: enterprises' aging mainframe applications.<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup>

The company launched in 2022 with funding from Spider Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and Cendana Capital, among others, according to its own announcement.<sup>[3](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)</sup> Early leadership included COO Matthew Work, who previously held leadership roles at [Cognizant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cognizant) and Amazon; the February 2024 Form D lists Robert Mee, Matthew Work, Martine Boyer, and Riki Crusha as executive officers, with Work and [Jake Saper](https://www.edgepedia.org/jake-saper) as directors.<sup>[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)</sup> The 2026 filing adds Cyrus Wadia, Edward Hieatt, and Joe Militello as officers, with Jake Saper and Crystal Huang as directors.<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup>

## Products and technology

Mechanical Orchard addresses legacy systems that organizations depend on but can no longer safely change. Its founder describes the model as digital transplants: duplicating the behavior of orphaned black-box systems in a form optimized for change, and operating them for clients.<sup>[3](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)</sup> In practice, the team reverse-engineers a legacy system's behavior and dependencies, then writes cloud-hosted code that replicates the old system's functionality. Customers own this code and can deploy it wherever they see fit.<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup>

Generative AI serves as a "pair programmer" within this process rather than a replacement for engineers: Mee said the company always has developers in the loop debug and review the finished product.<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup> The company says its iterative approach delivers each increment as working software into the production environment, giving customers continuous proof that the migration is working.<sup>[6](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)</sup> GV, its Series B lead investor, frames the target problem as moving organizations off mainframes and COBOL in sectors including banking, airlines, retail, healthcare, and government.<sup>[7](https://www.gv.com/news/mechanical-orchard-ai)</sup>

## Funding by the numbers

The primary record is the company's SEC Form D filings (CIK 0001953406). The Series A offering had a first sale on 21 November 2023; the Form D filed on 9 February 2024 reported $26,249,994 sold to 16 investors, in Series A and A-1 Preferred Stock and convertible Common Stock.<sup>[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)</sup>

In August 2024 the company announced a $50 million Series B led by GV, which [TechCrunch](https://www.edgepedia.org/techcrunch) reported brought total raised to $74 million at that date.<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup> The offering then continued to grow: a Form D/A filed on 16 January 2026 reported total sold in the Series B of $69,174,972, with nothing remaining, across 12 investors.<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup>

These figures do not fully agree, and the differences are worth stating plainly. The announced Series B was $50 million, while the filed offering total is $69.17 million, meaning the round expanded well beyond its announced size between August 2024 and January 2026. Total raised is approximately $100.4 million per the Form D filings, $74 million per TechCrunch's August 2024 report, and about $102 million per PitchBook, a directory figure that is unverified.<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/515405-53)</sup> The Series B valuation has not been reported in the sources consulted.

## Business and traction

GV describes the customer base as teams in banking, airlines, retail, healthcare, and government moving off mainframes and COBOL.<sup>[7](https://www.gv.com/news/mechanical-orchard-ai)</sup> TechCrunch reported in August 2024 that the company had large enterprise customers in retail and logistics in its pipeline.<sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup>

Headcount grew steadily. The company said its team totaled 80+ in August 2024; TechCrunch put it at around 90 at the same time, a small unresolved discrepancy. By 2026, PitchBook listed about 117 employees, a figure carried only by that directory and unverified.<sup>[6](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/515405-53)</sup> The company has an international presence in the UK, Ireland, Italy, and Germany.<sup>[6](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)</sup>

## Recent developments

The trajectory since late 2023 runs from the Series A first sale in November 2023 through the February 2024 Form D, the April 2024 hire of ex-VMware executive Edward Hieatt as Chief Customer Officer, and the August 2024 Series B announcement led by GV.<sup>[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)</sup> The Series B offering continued through amendments, closing its filed total of $69.17 million by the 16 January 2026 Form D/A, which also moved the company's recorded address from 530 Jackson Street to 1 Post Street.<sup>[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)</sup>

## References

1. [SEC Form D/A, Mechanical Orchard, Inc., filed 2026-01-16 (Accession 0001953406-26-000001)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340626000001/0001953406-26-000001.txt)
2. [TechCrunch: Mechanical Orchard, led by ex-Pivotal CEO, scores $50M round led by Alphabet's GV](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/07/mechanical-orchard-led-by-ex-pivotal-ceo-scores-50-million-round-led-by-alphabets-gv/)
3. [Mechanical Orchard: The Seeds of Mechanical Orchard](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/the-seeds-of-mechanical-orchard)
4. [SEC Form D, Mechanical Orchard, Inc., filed 2024-02-09 (Accession 0001953406-24-000001)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1953406/000195340624000001/0001953406-24-000001.txt)
5. [PitchBook: Mechanical Orchard 2026 Company Profile](https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/515405-53)
6. [Mechanical Orchard press release: Secures $50 Million to Safely Transition Large Organizations Off Risky Legacy Software](https://www.mechanical-orchard.com/insights/mechanical-orchard-secures-50-million-to-safely-transition-large-organizations-off-risky-legacy-software)
7. [GV: Mechanical Orchard, Application Modernization in the AI Age](https://www.gv.com/news/mechanical-orchard-ai)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Economics and business › Business and work › Business and work overview › Companies and corporations › Venture-backed startups and growth companies › Software, internet, and enterprise-technology startups › Developer tools and open-source software*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license
