TL;DR:
- Writer, an enterprise-focused generative AI platform, raises $100 million in a Series B funding round led by ICONIQ Growth.
- This funding brings Writer’s total raised capital to $126 million, valuing the company at $500 million to $750 million post-investment.
- Writer aims to develop industry-specific text-generating AI models to facilitate more complex enterprise applications.
- The company distinguishes itself through training models on non-copyrighted business writing, cost-effectiveness, and transparent customer access to code and data.
- Writer boasts “hundreds” of enterprise customers, including Intuit, United Healthcare, UiPath, Spotify, L’Oréal, Uber, and Accenture, and reports a revenue growth of 10x over the past two years.
Main AI News:
In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, enterprise-focused generative AI platforms are emerging as the new darlings of investors. Case in point, Writer, a trailblazer in the development of what they proudly dub a “full-stack” generative AI platform tailored specifically for businesses, has just announced a monumental achievement—a staggering $100 million infusion of capital in a Series B funding round.
Led by the forward-looking ICONIQ Growth, this funding round also saw enthusiastic participation from key investors such as WndrCo, Balderton Capital, Insight Partners, and esteemed Writer customers, including the likes of Accenture and Vanguard. This fresh injection of capital catapults Writer’s total funding to an impressive $126 million, simultaneously elevating the company’s valuation to a substantial range, estimated between $500 million and $750 million post-investment.
May Habib, the visionary co-founder and CEO of Writer, emphasized the strategic importance of this funding, highlighting its pivotal role in advancing the development of Writer’s “industry-specific” text-generating AI models. In an exclusive statement to TechCrunch, Habib stated, “Many enterprises are still just scratching the surface on generative AI, mostly building internal ‘CompanyX-GPT’-type of applications. The harder, more impactful use cases require a lot more know-how on retrieval augmented generation, data gathering and cleaning, and workflow construction, and they realize that that’s 90% of the work. That’s the part that Writer makes much easier—and all of the data plus the large language model (LLM) can be hosted in an enterprise virtual private cloud, which makes it workable for enterprises.”
In a fiercely competitive landscape, where giants like OpenAI and formidable generative text AI rivals such as Anthropic, AI21 Labs, and Mistral AI hold sway, Writer stands as a beacon of innovation. This enterprise-focused platform is not alone, with contenders like Jasper, Cohere, and Typeface vying for a slice of the generative AI market. What truly sets Writer apart in this crowded arena?
First and foremost, Writer proudly asserts that it has trained its fine-tunable models on business writing that remains unburdened by copyright restrictions—a pivotal factor in a landscape where the copyright status of AI-generated content remains a topic of debate. Moreover, Writer’s models are touted to be “smaller” and more “cost-effective” than their counterparts, offering a transparent experience for customers who can scrutinize the models’ code, features, and data. Notably, Writer’s models have never been trained on customer data, reinforcing a commitment to data privacy and security.
In a bid to empower its customers, Writer allows seamless integration with business data sources, enhancing research capabilities, fact-checking, and the ability to answer complex questions. Additionally, Writer provides the essential tools for companies to enforce regulatory, legal, and brand guidelines across their AI models, ensuring compliance and consistency.
These formidable capabilities have garnered Writer an impressive clientele, boasting “hundreds” of satisfied customers, including industry titans like Intuit, United Healthcare, UiPath, Spotify, L’Oréal, Uber, and Accenture. Headquartered in the innovation hub of San Francisco, with a dedicated team of 100 employees, Writer has reported a staggering 10x growth in revenues over the past two years.
In a landscape where innovation reigns supreme, Writer’s commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions for enterprises, coupled with its unwavering dedication to transparency and data ethics, positions it as a formidable force to watch in the ever-evolving world of generative AI.
Conclusion:
Writer’s successful funding round underscores the growing demand for enterprise-grade AI solutions. Its commitment to transparency and data ethics positions it well to thrive in a competitive market where innovation and compliance are paramount. As generative AI gains traction, Writer’s ability to simplify complex tasks and cater to diverse enterprise needs is likely to solidify its position as a significant player in the industry.
