gBETA Alumni Feature: ConverSight.ai
gBETA Indy Fall 2018 Graduate
ConverSight.ai, an Indianapolis based SaaS company, empowers supply chain leaders to gain supply chain visibility and control on working capital. ConverSight.ai’s Athena, a voice and natural language-based conversational AI engine, allows users to access real-time data, offer insights & recommendations and automate perform transactions through simple conversation.
Where were you at as a company when you started with gBETA?
When ConverSight.ai participated in the gBETA program, we had recently received $250,000 in friends and family seed funding. At that time, we had around 10 early-stage pilot customers for our platform which was more focused on voice and chat-based conversational AI. We were still developing many of the advanced analytics components. Our AI companion, ATHENA, was just answering questions, was not smart enough to recommend as well as what we have today. We were looking to do our first financial round with outside investors with the basic investor deck we had.
Where are you at currently as a company?
Currently, ConverSight.ai empowers more than 60 customers, including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, in the manufacturing and distribution space. We are supporting many customers along with their customers to gain real-time insights to manage their inventory efficiently. Post gBETA, we have gained access to contacts in Techstars and participated in their Farm-to-Fork accelerator program in 2019. ConverSight.ai has received $3.7M in funding, including the most recent Seed round led by Elevate Ventures, invested by Techstars, The Syndicate Fund, Angel Round Table and Atland Ventures.
Who were some of the most helpful introductions for you during the program?
Before the gBETA program, we just had the core technology team and were serving some known customers. gBETA opened the door and introduced us to the larger Indiana community. During gBETA we met a lot of investor contacts and advisors who changed our course to what we are today. We learned about the Indiana Venture Capital Investment Tax Credit Program and got approved. Also, we received great help from FairWind Advisors and received payroll credits. We met Tony Lettich from Angel Round Table, Tennessee based Angel Network firm, who lead our pre-seed convertible note round. Their thorough due diligence made us prepare for the current state of the company. There is no way we could have met ART if we weren’t in gBETA. We also met Brett Brohl from Techstars through a gBETA introduction.
What would your advice be to incoming gBETA companies?
Irrespective of your size and status, believe in your team who can make the idea a reality. There is a lot of help out there from the local government, investors, advisors and potential customers. Programs like gBETA could connect you to all of them. Make use of every connection. Be prepared, focused, know them well and keep them engaged even after the program. Mentors will help you for several years even after the program. A monthly status update is a critical element to keep all of these stakeholders engaged.
Cindy Frey, President of Columbus Chamber of Commerce
How did you first get involved with ConverSight.ai and gBETA?
I knew co-founder Gopi Jaganmohan as one of the workers in our Fishtank Coworking Space in Columbus. I remember the day he approached me with an idea he and a colleague were considering. As he described it, I could see the need for the kind of service and products they were considering, using AI and natural voice recognition. At the time, they were envisioning some consumer applications. That approach changed very early in the startup phase. Meeting Ganesh sealed it. He was extremely humble, but I was able to discern the scope of his knowledge and the key relationships he could leverage due to the leadership role he held with his previous employer. This was a team I would bet on.
What reasons made you interested in providing support to ConverSight.ai?
Every Chamber of Commerce in each community is a bit different. Here in Columbus, we’ve been focused on innovation and supporting entrepreneurship for a very long time. This was the kind of company that could grow quickly while creating jobs and new wealth in our community. We had been asked to consider partnering with Elevate Ventures as a regional program that paired Bloomington and Columbus. This was a tangible example of innovators with big ideas and aspirations in our community. I continue to lift them up as an example of how the right team with the right idea can scale up into a promising company.
What types of support do you offer companies typically?
Most of our work has been with small and medium-sized businesses. However, Columbus has a strong entrepreneurial track record and we have a lot of talent here. This county has more engineers per capita than anywhere else in the United States. And, we’ve imported talent from all over the world. As manufacturing requires more and more technology, I can see our community leveraging the engineering and tech talent that’s here for all kinds of innovative new ventures. Remember, Cummins Inc., which is now a global company that is headquartered here, began as a startup. Clessie Cummins was a brilliant mechanic who happened to work for a forward-thinking banker. It’s the classic story of the collision of ideas and capital.
Interested in learning more about gBETA or applying for an upcoming program? Please visit https://www.gbetastartups.com/indy for more information.
