Personal AI, Three Year-Old Startup Behind Popular Chatbot, Raises $8.4 Million
Personal AI says it raised $8.4 million from elite venture capital investors
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Founders,
Personal AI, a San Diego-based startup has raised millions from venture capitalists.
Led by Differential VC and Supernode Global, the $8.4 million seed round will be used to launch its mobile application.
The investment comes at a time when dozens of artificial-intelligence startups are becoming valued at billion-dollar unicorns, including OpenAI.
Please enjoy this overview of Personal AI.
High-Level Overview
Personal AI was founded in 2020, by Suman Kanuganti, its mission is to make AI more accessible.
What makes it special? Personal AI’s chatbot technology allows you to collect, recall, and store personal information — forever.
The 3-year-old company’s AI system called GGT-P, has the ability to learn from personal data sets, allowing it to offer a more personalized approach.
Founder Story
A 2-time entrepreneur, Suman Kanuganti previously sold his first company in 2020, for an undisclosed amount.
That company, called Aira raised $35 million in venture capital funding and employed nearly 100 employees. Months after the acquisition, Kanuganti announced he was working on his next big idea, focusing on AI.
He raised more than $2 million from friends and family, and recruit co-founder Sharon Zhang, its CTO and Kristie Kaiser, Head of UX and Design.
That following year, the startup obtained a patent for its AI-powered memory retention system, which allowed it to raised additional investment from elite VCs.
How Does It Work?
Personal AI captures everything and stores it into a digital memory stack.
It logs everything ranging from: the work you do on your computer, captures an accurate timeline of every meeting you’ve attended, every website scrolled, and more.
Unlike other AI competitors, Kanuganti said, Personal AI only uses personal information. It also stores data that only the user can access, according to the firm.
“It’s kind of like a little assistant on your shoulder. Anyone can create their own a personalized model by uploading relevant articles, podcasts, stories or any other information they want to retain,” said Suman Kanuganti, co-founder and CEO at Personal AI.
Identifying Use Cases
Hundreds of writers, professionals, and high-tech enthusiasts are regularly leveraging its platform, said Kanuganti. Its core audience are everyday consumers.
As of today, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has millions of daily active users. People are using AI technology to help them write essays, cover letters, among other use cases.
Kanuganti believes Personal AI may have the ability to make similar impact as OpenAI, emphasizing that its competitive advantage its using personalized information instead of pulling information from the internet.
Who Has Backed the Startup?
Venture capital firms:
Differential VC, Supernode Global, Jane Street Capital, GoodFriends, Beni Venture Capital, Village Global, and BBG Ventures.
Other notable investors:
San Diego-based Keshif Ventures, David Gilboa, the co-founder of Warby Parker; Arizona Cardinals’s Kelvin Beachum; Anirudh Koul, Bradley Taylor, and former Qualcomm executive, Pankaj Kedia.
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Update: Personal AI has raised $8.4 million. I originally quoted $7.8 million.