Why We Invested: Remark
Bringing the human touch back to commerce.
Commerce at its best doesn’t feel transactional; it feels like an exchange of knowledge and value. As a buyer, your counterpart feels like a trusted advisor, helping you solve a problem or satisfy a desire. For a seller, your counterpart feels like someone you are helping or someone who appreciates your hard work and craft. We’ve all had those memorable shopping experiences — perhaps it was the jeweler who helped you find the perfect engagement ring, the retail worker at a running store who found the right shoe for your foot, or the specialist who guided you in choosing the ideal car seat and stroller combo for your soon-to-arrive baby.
Remark is on a mission to make those moments scalable and make commerce more humane by leveraging the best of human expertise combined with the power of AI. Remark connects online shoppers with real product experts directly on a company’s website. These experts are augmented with AI, improving over time as Remark builds highly specialized models in niche verticals. Remark’s elegant product uniquely addresses the needs of three key stakeholders: Experts who can now monetize their hard-earned knowledge in niche categories like skiing, running, or parenting; Consumers who benefit from personalized, expert recommendations; and Brands, which see increased sales, reduced returns, and stronger customer relationships.
On a personal note, I watched my wife launch and scale a surf, skate, and apparel business. Communicating the intricacies of their products was always challenging online, especially in a way that remained authentic to their brand and community. The highlights of building the company were the moments they shared their passion for their products with customers. The worst days involved dealing with unhappy customers who made the wrong purchases. Remark solves this by connecting companies, like the one my wife helped build, with experts who guide customers to make the right decisions.
Remark’s product is not just another wrapper on top of [insert your favorite LLM]. From our first conversation, it was evident that Theo, CP, Ian, and the team had a unique vision and intentional approach to AI use and design. They consistently shared unique insights, from their ethical stances on model attribution, their custom LLM stack, strategies for attracting top talent to the AI application layer, to their long-term product roadmap and vision for the future of commerce in an AI-driven world.
There’s a reason why we don’t make many investments in a given year. It’s not easy to find opportunities where a uniquely talented team is on a clear mission, solving a real problem, with a different point of view, and is a joy to work with. We are lucky to have the opportunity to back Theo, Ian, CP, and the whole Remark team. We are also grateful to do it alongside Stripe, Neo, Shine, and a long list of impressive investors.
