In 2022, Abhay Parasnis, the previous CTO of Adobe, based Typeface, a generative AI startup centered on enterprise use instances. With it, he hoped to leverage generative AI — which on the time was simply starting to come back into vogue — to ship customized content material for manufacturers at scale.
Typeface, thanks partly to the hype round generative AI, caught on rapidly, attracting Fortune 500 prospects inside its first 12 months in addition to partnerships with Salesforce and Google Cloud. And — maybe extra importantly — it gained over buyers, who this week injected tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} into the startup.
Immediately, Typeface closed a $100 million Collection B spherical led by Salesforce Ventures with participation from Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12 (Microsoft’s Enterprise Fund). Valuing the startup at $1 billion, the tranche brings Typeface’s whole raised to $165 million.
Parasnis says that the brand new capital will likely be put towards increasing Typeface’s platform and rising the corporate’s group.
“Enterprise leaders are telling us throughout the board that they wish to embrace generative AI, however they want an answer that meets their distinctive necessities and is prepared for the enterprise,” Parasnis mentioned through electronic mail. “They require an AI platform that retains up with the lightning-fast tempo of innovation and looks like a pure extension of their model. In addition they want the reassurance that their invaluable proprietary content material stays safe and confidential whereas seamlessly integrating into their present workflows.”
The Typeface platform consists of three key elements, Parasnis defined — the primary being a content material hub the place customers can add property and pointers for “on-brand” textual content and picture era. The second, known as Mix, makes use of AI to coach and personalize content material to a model’s voice and elegance. As for the third, Stream, it offers templates and workflows designed to combine into present apps and methods.
Picture Credit: Typeface
Utilizing Typeface, a content material advertising supervisor may generate an Instagram put up — or at the very least a product shot and caption — to advertise the launch of a brand new product utilizing brand-approved wording and property. Or a requirement era supervisor at a business-to-business software-as-a-service firm may repurpose an occasion video right into a weblog put up, draft a follow-up electronic mail to attendees and extra.
“We offer enterprises with a set of safe, self-serve options that empower any worker to supply on-brand content material from their content material workflows,” Parasnis mentioned.
There’s no scarcity now of corporations within the generative AI area. (See Jasper AI, for instance, which additionally not too long ago raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.) So what makes Typeface totally different?
For one, Parasnis makes the case that Typeface locations a larger emphasis on model governance, content material security and privateness than most of its opponents. The platform offers devoted AI fashions for every buyer, ostensibly making certain that their property and exercise stay personal.
What’s not solely clear is whether or not Typeface’s fashions — and the content material they produce — may very well be topic to authorized challenges down the road. Pending cases towards standard AI artwork instruments Midjourney and Stability AI allege that they infringed on the rights of tens of millions of artists by coaching their instruments on web-scraped photographs. In the meantime, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) has but to concern clear guidance on copyright protections for AI-generated works.
Parasnis isn’t anticipating headwinds, asserting that Typeface prospects personal all of the property they generate on the platform.
“Each a part of the enterprise wants compelling, customized content material to drive outcomes, and that too, extra at a speedy tempo,” he mentioned. “Typeface revolutionizes the way in which enterprises ship content material, empowering each aspect of the group to drive distinctive outcomes with unprecedented velocity.”
It may not matter — for now. The dangers don’t appear to be dampening the keenness round generative AI. According to a survey by FreshBooks, 25% of enterprise house owners say that they’re presently utilizing or testing generative AI instruments whereas two out of three say they’ll attempt generative AI for work throughout the subsequent 12 months.
VCs aren’t shying away both, clearly. In response to a PitchBook report released in March, enterprise corporations have steadily elevated their positions in generative AI, from $408 million in 2018 to $4.8 billion in 2021 to $4.5 billion in 2022. Angel and seed offers have grown as effectively, with 107 offers and $358.3 million invested in 2022 in contrast with simply 41 and $102.8 million in 2018.
“With a big demand amongst enterprises for customized generative AI, we should quickly increase our platform and constantly innovate to fulfill enterprises’ distinct wants,” Parasnis mentioned. “Furthermore, we are going to increase our distinctive group with deep AI, software-as-a-service and enterprise advertising experience to complement the worth we provide to our rising group. This funding serves because the catalyst for a sturdy product roadmap and go-to-market growth, empowering enterprises to effortlessly generate customized content material at each buyer touchpoint, safely and from inside their present enterprise workflows.”