Montréal startup raises $1.1 million to help fix corporate software adoption rates.
A lot of workplace software is complex, clunky, and not super intuitive. A Montréal startup is betting that most employees would rather ask an AI tool than their manager how to use it.
The news: Montréal-based Solving.AI has raised a $1.1-million CAD pre-seed round from AQC Capital and Québec angel investors for its AI training platform. The large language model tool, called ShowMe, works as an add-on to complex software from companies like Salesforce and HubSpot, and allows users to type or ask questions in voice mode as they navigate their screen.
From the source: “[Companies] are spending millions of dollars [on software] for users to take six to 12 months to start using it, and the drag of adoption is creating a huge loss in revenue,” chief operating officer Alexis Boucher said in an interview. “With ShowMe, they’re able to start using it right away, and the learning curve is much faster.”
Following the thread: With major tech companies selling packages of complex workflows to corporations with tens of thousands of employees, training them effectively has become a pain point and sometimes leads to low adoption. Solving.AI is trying to fix this uptake problem with easy training for expensive software—like business intelligence or customer relationship management tools.
Solving.AI is betting that its AI-powered tool is helpful enough that companies using complex software will pay to bolt it on to their internal systems. This ideally improves uptake for the end customer and makes them more likely to renew their licenses.
Final thought: The Solving.AI team is a lean group with a background in fast-growing startups. Founder Benjamin Philion and CTO Daniel Acevedo formerly worked at job search platform Talent.com, while Boucher spent years at retail tech firm Lightspeed Commerce and revenue operations startup Vasco. Boucher said the startup plans to use the funding for its go-to-market efforts, and aims to raise another round in 12 to 15 months.
Feature image courtesy Solving.AI.
