The 10 Hottest AI Startup Companies Of 2022
AI Squared, TimeZest and Pano are just some of the AI startups that have made CRN’s list.
The provider of low-code, drag-and-drop models for insights generated by artificial intelligence, a scheduling automation tool aimed at managed service providers and a wildfire-detection service powered by AI and computer vision are among the the hottest artificial intelligence startups CRN has seen in 2022.
AI Squared, TimeZest and Pano are just some of the AI software companies that have made CRN’s list.
Offers from these AI technology companies can bring in new revenue for businesses, help them bring in revenue faster and save on operational costs could prove a winning message at a time when the United States faces high inflation and a possible recession.
[RELATED: The 10 Coolest Cloud Computing Startup Companies of 2022]
What AI Startups Made CRN’s List?
The following companies made CRN’s list:
* AI Squared
* Capacity
* Credo AI
* EvaBot
* Lightning AI
* Observe.AI
* Pano
* Spot AI
* TimeZest
* Zowie
Some of these startup CEOs bring with them impressive resumes, with work experience at the likes of the National Security Agency, Microsoft, Twitter, Nest, Meraki, ConnectWise and IBM.
Read more about how these startups made it to CRN’s 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022.
AI Squared
CEO: Benjamin Harvey
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Website: squared.ai
Returning from CRN’s 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far), AI Squared continues to impress with its low-code, drag-and-drop models for users to gain AI-generated insights from their web applications, skipping time-consuming development cycles.
The Washington, D.C.-based startup integrates machine learning models such as PyTorch, Keras and TensorFlow with commercial apps from Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft, Oracle and other vendors, according to AI Squared.
In June, AI Squared announced that it raised $6 million in a seed round of financing. NEA led the round, with participation from Ridgeline Partners. The money will go toward product development and hiring, according to the startup.
In an October interview with WJCT, CEO Benjamin Harvey said his company has a valuation of more than $50 million and that he hopes to raise at least $50 million in the Series A round and reach a $500 million valuation.
Before he founded AI Squared last year, Harvey worked at Maxar Technologies for more than a year, according to his LinkedIn. He left with the title of data science director.
He previously worked at Databricks for more than a year, according to his LinkedIn. He left in 2020 with the title of solutions architect and data scientist.
Harvey worked at the National Security Agency for about 10 years, according to his LinkedIn. He left in 2019 with the title of chief of operations for data science.
Capacity
CEO: David Karandish
Headquarters: St. Louis
Website: capacity.com
Capacity – which appeared on CRN’s 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far) – brings conversational AI to a support automation platform for the entire technology stack.
The platform’s goal is to answer user questions and automate repetitive support tasks, such as asking about the company insurance plan or getting travel reimbursements.
The St. Louis-based startup has a partner program for distributors, outsourcers, service providers and other business types, according to Capacity.
In January, Capacity closed an additional $27 million for its Series C round of financing, bringing the round’s total to more than $38 million, according to the company. Capacity promised to use the money toward hiring and enhanced product capabilities.
Before CEO David Karandish founded Capacity in 2017, he served as CEO of question-and-answer website Answers for about five years, according to his LinkedIn.
Credo AI
CEO: Navrina Singh
Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif.
Website: credo.ai
Regulation of AI and automation tools is here, with a New York City law, for example, that requires bias audits on automated employment decision tools set to go into effect Jan. 1.
To give AI tool users more peace of mind, Credo AI offers an AI governance platform to assess systems and reports for fairness, performance, transparency, security, privacy and other measures, according to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup.
Earlier this month, Credo released enhancements to its platform including an improved Lens open source assessment framework.
In October, Credo held its own virtual Global RAI (Responsible AI) Summit to bring together industry, government, policy and academic professionals.
In May, Credo raised a $12.8 million Series A round of financing. Sands Capital led the round. Decibel and AI Fund participated. Credo promised to use the funding toward product development, go-to-market hiring and supporting emerging standards and policies, according to a statement from the time.
Before CEO Navrina Singh co-founded Credo in 2020, she was a director of product management for Microsoft’s AI division, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the tech giant in 2019 after three years.
In this role, she “led a team responsible for the end user experience to bring a brand new SaaS service to build Virtual agents (chat bots) for our enterprise customers” and worked on “product definition & roadmap, product strategy, GTM including SaaS licensing & business model,” according to her LinkedIn.
Singh is also a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National AI Advisory Committee and a member of Mozilla Foundation’s board of directors, according to the groups’ websites.
EvaBot
CEO: Rabi Gupta
Headquarters: San Francisco
Website: evabot.com
EvaBot is an AI-powered gifting service that asks customers about preferences and even allergy and dietary restrictions before sending a personalized present.
Service users can deliver surprise lunches, emails, notes and other items that intend to foster a greater relationship with customers, according to San Francisco-based EvaBot.
In August, the company announced that it raised $8.33 million in a Series A round of funding plus $2.5 million in debt financing. Comcast Ventures led the round. Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Forefront Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank participated.
At the time, EvaBot reported that it had shipped more than 125,000 gifts. The company has a roster of 45,000 possible gifts.
CEO Rabi Gupta co-founded the company in 2017, according to his LinkedIn.
In 2016, he sold iCouchapp, a mobile application platform for TV channels that reached 2 million-plus monthly active users when Vidooly acquired it. He co-founded iCouchapp in 2013, according to his LinkedIn.
Lightning AI
CEO: William Falcon
Headquarters: New York
Website: lightning.ai
Lightning AI impressed earlier this year with a $40 million Series B round of funding in June for its platform and framework that provides a way to build AI-enabled products and services as applications with modular components.
Since CRN named the New York-based startup to its 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far) list in August, Lightning AI has formed a team around the PyTorch open source machine learning framework. The team is led by chief engineer Mike Ruberry, hired in August from Facebook parent company Meta, according to his LinkedIn account.
In September, Lightning AI made its application for streamlining synthetic data generation for computer vision machine learning models generally available. The application also trains the models on graphical processing units (GPUs), according to a company statement. The application was built on the Nvidia Omniverse Replicator software development kit (SDK).
The application should help with logistics, inventories, warehouse management, retail and other fields, according to the company.
Before he founded the startup in 2019, CEO William Falcon co-founded NextGenVest and worked at the startup as chief technology officer, according to his LinkedIn. In 2018, financial technology company CommonBond bought NextGenVest.
Falcon created and open-sourced lightweight PyTorch wrapper PyTorch Lightning in 2019. He has also attained the rank of captain with the United States Air Force, according to his LinkedIn.
Observe.AI
CEO: Swapnil Jain
Headquarters: San Francisco
Website: observe.ai
A $125 million Series C round of funding in April with the promise of growing the go-to-market team for direct and channel-based deals captured CRN’s attention earlier this year and landed Observe.AI on the 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far) list in August.
Since then, the San Francisco-based startup – which provides a conversation intelligence platform for contact center performance – launched a reporting and analytics feature to share information including customer sentiment over time, which teams drive the highest sales conversions and major compliance errors.
In September, Observe.AI revealed conversation intelligence consulting services to aid with implementation, mapping business objectives to interaction analytics, automating tasks and other actions.
And earlier this month, Observe.AI announced a new integration with Zoom – which is an investor in the startup – that brings Observe’s conversation intelligence capabilities to the video and communications platform provider, according to Observe.AI.
Recent key hires for the startup include Deepak Kumar as chief customer officer and Puneet Agarwal as senior vice president of engineering.
Before he co-founded Observe.AI in 2017, CEO Swapnil Jain worked at Twitter for more than three years, according to his LinkedIn. He left Twitter with the title of technical team lead.
Pano
CEO: Sonia Kastner
Headquarters: San Francisco
Website: pano.ai
Pano offers an AI- and computer vision-powered fully managed service for active wildfire detection to governments, utilities, insurers and private landowners.
Fire professionals can detect and assess fires with the Pano Rapid Detect platform, which also allows for information dissemination to responders, according to the San Francisco-based company. Enterprises and homeowners can also use Pano for watching their properties.
Users receive a unified view with high-definition and legacy cameras, satellite data, field sensors, emergency alerts and other feeds, according to the company. Pano’s cameras have a 15-mile radius for spotting fires.
In September, the startup raised $20 million in Series A funding. Initialized Capital led the round. Congruent Ventures, Convective Capital, DCVC, January Ventures, Quiet Capital, Kevin Mahaffey of Lookout, Jade van Doren of AllTrails, Mark Leslie of Veritas Software and Oleg Rogynskyy of People.ai all participated.
Before she founded Pano in 2019, CEO Sonia Kastner worked at cannabis company Pax, according to her LinkedIn account. Kastner worked at the company for less than a year, leaving in 2017 with the title of vice president of supply chain.
She also worked at Google thermostat subsidiary Nest for more than a year, according to her LinkedIn account. She left the company in 2015 as global supply manager. In this role, she “oversaw supply chain for the major electromechanical subassemblies (incl. batteries, displays, audio and power adapters) across more than 5 different Nest products.”
Spot AI
CEO: Tanuj Thapliyal
Headquarters: Burlingame, Calif.
Website: spot.ai
Spot AI announced earlier this month that it raised a $40 million Series B round of financing to invest in its AI camera system meant to help companies improve security, efficiency and customer experience.
Scale Venture Partners led the round with Redpoint Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and new investors StepStone Group and MVP Ventures participating.
Burlingame, Calif.-based Spot AI promises a way to modernize existing security systems without replacing cameras. AI alerts and intelligence dashboards can inform users without needing them to watch video footage. And users can monitor the health of their cameras.
Spot also has a partner program for resellers and integrators.
In November, Spot launched a license plate recognition feature so that users can search video footage for specific vehicles. In October, the company made improvements to the live view and dashboards in its mobile application.
The company launched its video intelligence offering last year and has grown fivefold in revenue year over year, according to Spot AI. It is deployed in thousands of locations in the U.S., including car washes, warehouses, nonprofits and health care companies.
CEO Tanuj Thapliyal co-founded Spot in 2018, according to his LinkedIn. He previously worked at Meraki for about two years, leaving in 2013 with the title of hardware program engineer.
At Meraki, he worked as the “lead technical program manager / systems engineer for 11 enterprise networking devices (WiFi routers, fiber-optics & modules, firewalls, switches),” according to his LinkedIn.
TimeZest
CEO: Gerwai Todd
Headquarters: Tampa, Fla.
Website: timezest.com
Since CRN’s 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far) list, which featured TimeZest, the startup won IT Nation’s Evolve Rookie of the Year award.
The Tampa, Fla.-based startup provides managed service providers with scheduling automation that integrates with Autotask and ConnectWise.The goal is to save MSPs time and cut down on no-shows.
Service provider users include F1 Solutions, Stratosphere Networks and Tech Experts, according to TimeZest.
Before he co-founded TimeZest in 2020, CEO Gerwai Todd founded another AI-based tool provider for partners, Triafy. Todd continues to serve as Triafy’s president, according to his LinkedIn account. Triafy focused on simplifying information triages when opening new service tickets.
He previously served as chief operating officer at MSP training provider CharTec, according to his LinkedIn. Todd left CharTec in 2018.
Todd worked at ConnectWise for more than seven years, according to his LinkedIn. He left the company in 2016 with the title of director of corporate business development.
Zowie
CEO: Maja Schaefer
Headquarters: New York
Website: getzowie.com
Returning from CRN’s 10 Hottest AI Startups Of 2022 (So Far), Zowie continues to impress with its AI-powered chatbots for e-commerce brands such as L’Oreal and Avon.
Since August, New York-based Zowie has presented with Google a webinar on using the startup with Google Business Messages.
The New York-based company provides chatbots to answer common questions without training and plugs into all e-commerce and marketing platforms, according to Zowie. It promises two hours saved per customer service agent a day with 70 percent of tickets automated after four weeks.
Zowie has a partner program for consultancies, software agencies and services providers. Members receive a partnership manager, hands-on training, marketing and product materials and other benefits, according to the company.
In May, Zowie announced the close of a $14 million Series A round of financing. Tiger Global Management led the round. Google’s AI-focused fund Gradient Ventures, 10xFounders, Inovo and Lattice CEO Jack Altman participated. The money was meant for expanding capabilities and hiring more salespeople for international growth.
Before she founded the startup in 2019, CEO Maja Schaefer was CEO and cofounder of custom software developer Codeheroes, according to her LinkedIn.
Schaefer was also a software engineer at IBM for more than two years, according to her LinkedIn. She left the company in 2015.