After visiting a Pennsylvania power plant as an engineering student, Jake Loosararian got the idea for what would become Gecko Robotics. The plant was routinely shutting down to deal with unexpected equipment failures, with no meaningful way to prevent them. Catching problems before they turned into disasters fell to a human inspector, suspended on a rope a hundred feet in the air. Shortly before Loosararian’s visit, one of those inspectors died on the job.
That tragedy sparked an interest in improving the physical world to prevent the loss of human lives: designing a robot that could climb the same structures and understand their condition.
How Gecko Robotics scaled
Problem: Gecko Robotics needed a bank that understood the pace of a high-growth startup and the demands of the specialized, high-stakes industries it served.
Solution: J.P. Morgan backed Gecko early with venture debt when it needed capital to keep building. The relationship grew to include treasury management, investment banking and international expansion banking as the company scaled.
Outcome: Gecko went from an early-stage startup into a trusted partner for the critical infrastructure and national defense industries, supported by the J.P. Morgan banking team as it scaled.
Robots for the real world and critical infrastructure
In 2013, shortly after graduating from college, Loosararian co-founded Gecko, where he’s now the CEO. The company builds physical intelligence to help the people responsible for critical infrastructure understand its condition and decide what to do next. Gecko’s robots take on dangerous work—from scaling power plants to navigating warships and inspecting refineries—while collecting detailed data from places people can’t easily reach.
Gecko’s robots climb, crawl, swim and fly into places people can’t safely go, gathering data on the pipelines, plants and vessels that keep critical infrastructure running. That data feeds Cantilever, the company’s software platform, creating a living model of each asset. Instead of waiting for equipment to fail, operators can see problems coming and act before they become costly and dangerous.
Speaking the same language when it comes to national defense
Today, Gecko is known for tackling the essential work that keeps vital systems operating. What began with power plants, refineries and industrial sites has expanded into national defense, where the same robots and software help the U.S. military maintain the readiness of its most critical assets.
This work aligns closely with the J.P. Morgan Security and Resiliency Initiative, a $1.5 trillion, 10-year plan to facilitate, finance and invest in industries critical to economic security and resiliency.
That's part of what drew Gecko to J.P. Morgan, as our client base spans those same industries and includes clients of all stages.
Gecko has worked with the Startup Banking team at J.P. Morgan since 2020, when it became one of the first companies the firm supported through its venture debt program for early-stage companies. That support gave Gecko the capital to keep building while it was proving its technology.
“Before Gecko blew up in the way that it has, J.P. Morgan was there—and they saw what the potential was and what it could become.”
Jake Loosararian
Co-Founder and CEO
More than a lender
What began as a single venture debt loan grew into a full banking relationship. J.P. Morgan now supports Gecko across treasury management, investment banking, commercial card and more—giving the company one team to rely on as it scaled rather than a patchwork of providers.
As Gecko has grown into a global company, that reach has mattered as much as the capital. With international capabilities supporting its expansion, J.P. Morgan provides Gecko with a dedicated team to help serve its global footprint.
“From financing options to relationship building, J.P. Morgan evolved with us,” Loosararian said. “The credibility carries around the world.”
A relationship built on fast, direct support
J.P. Morgan began working with Gecko early in its growth and has supported the company as its banking needs evolved.
“J.P. Morgan and the dedicated team that we have are people I call pretty often,” Loosararian said. “They’ll pick up the phone every time, and they’ll do anything to ensure that they can help us be successful.”
That kind of access matters most when the stakes are highest. As Gecko has taken on more complex, high-stakes work, it’s been important to have a banking team it can count on.
Loosararian believes the world is only beginning to see what AI and robotics can do when fully integrated together. As this technology takes on more of the work that keeps our infrastructure intact, Gecko is leading that shift, with a banking team built to grow alongside it.
Whether you're building an early-stage startup that wants to make the physical world safer like Gecko or scaling into new markets, we’re here to help you reach your next milestone. Connect with J.P. Morgan Innovation Economy Banking today and explore our Innovation Economy content hub for more insights.
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC. Visit jpmorgan.com/commercial-banking/legal-disclaimer for disclosures and disclaimers related to this content.
