Exclusive: Parse.ly founders secure $6.4M for new AI startup
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CTO Mike Sukmanowsky, CEO Sachin Kamdar and COO John Levitt. Credit: elvex
The founders of Parse.ly, a content analytics platform, raised $6.4 million in seed funding to support their new enterprise AI startup.
Why it matters: Companies are racing to implement AI into their workflows.
Zoom in: The startup, elvex, hopes to do the same for AI assistants as Parse.ly does for thousands of digital publishers that depend on its easy-to-use audience measurement data and tools.
- Elvex is designed to accelerate the adoption of AI chatbots and tools across an entire organization.
- The unified platform, which can work with multiple AI models, enables non-technical employees to easily create, use and share AI assistants.
- Enterprise companies can access the platform, as well as elvex's customer support and training features, via an annual subscription that's charged based on usage.
Follow the money: The seed round was led by MXV Capital and FCVC, with participation from Remarkable Ventures, Industry Ventures, Accelerator Ventures and other angel investors.
- The funding will be used to expand the company's product and engineering teams.
- Unlike Parse.ly, whose customer set was mostly publishers and marketers, elvex's tools can be used by any department at any enterprise company that's looking to scale its AI tools.
- Clients of elvex include Movable Ink, The Boston Globe, Automattic, Embark and McClatchy.
Between the lines: Elvex was co-founded in 2023 by Parse.ly executives Sachin Kamdar, Mike Sukmanowsky and John Levitt.
- They left Parse.ly after it was acquired by WordPress parent Automattic in 2021. Parse.ly was Automattic's largest acquisition by cost and revenue.
- "The elvex team's track record gives us confidence in their vision for AI," says MXV Capital founder Mark Ghermezian.
The bottom line: Companies are struggling with the adoption of AI tools across teams and workflows.
- "A lot of tech is focused on the developer, not the practitioner," says elvex CEO Kamdar. "It was gate-kept by analysts ... and eventually became a bottleneck for the whole organization."
