Y Combinator Backed Clueso Bags $1.4 Mn In Seed Funding

Y Combinator Backed Clueso Bags Funding To Provide AI-Powered Video Creation Tools

SUMMARY

The funding round was led by f7 ventures and also saw participation from existing backer Y Combinator

Founded in 2023, Clueso leverages generative AI to help companies create instructional videos and documentation for employee training and for their customers

In 2023, the startup was selected for the winter cohort of Y Combinator’s early stage startup accelerator program

Enterprise tech startup Clueso has raised $1.4 Mn (about INR 11.6 Cr) in its seed funding round, led by f7 ventures. The round also saw participation from existing backer Y Combinator.

Founded by IIT Madras alumnus Akash Anand, Prajwal Prakash, and Neel Balar in June 2023, Clueso leverages generative AI (GenAI) to help companies create instructional videos and documentation for employee training and for customers.

Clueso claims that its AI auto-removes fumbling and rewrites the transcript to cover the same content in 60% of the time and replaces audio track with a “professional, natural-sounding AI voiceover”. Besides, it also creates a written article for every video with screenshots and GIFs.

In a LinkedIn post, Prakash said that the startup only had the three cofounders working full time till now. Following the fresh funding, the startup is looking to expand its team.

The startup also featured in Inc42’s ‘30 Startups To Watch’ list published in May 2023.

Commenting on the funding, f7 venture’s general partner Kelly Graziadei said in a statement, “As long time operators and builders of both sales and support teams, we know first hand the pain and expense that comes with creating and maintaining engaging content for both internal teams and customers especially at high growth companies with rapidly changing products and policies. Clueso is the solution we wish we always had”.

Clueso was also selected in the winter cohort of Y Combinator’s early-stage startup accelerator programme in April 2023. With its participation in the three-month-long initiative, the startup netted an investment of $500K.

The fundraise comes at a time when the Indian GenAI market is heating up in terms of investments. In January, Bhavish Aggarwal-led AI startup Krutrim entered the unicorn club with a $50 Mn funding round.

Startups like Vodex, Arya.AI, and Sydelabs have also attracted investor attention in recent months. The Indian GenAI market is projected to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030, growing from $1.1 Bn in 2023.

Clueso competes in the growing AI video creation space with the likes of Rephrase.ai, Trainn.co, Just Baat, and Hippo Video. Interestingly, Invideo also began its journey in the AI-led video creation space with a focus on enterprise consumers in 2017. However, it pivoted in 2019 to become a B2C startup.