Prezent raises $30 million to acquire AI services firms — starting with founder’s other company

Prezent, a startup that gives an AI-powered presentation builder to enterprises, stated right now that it has raised $30 million in funding led by Multiplier Capital, Greycroft, and Nomura Strategic Ventures, with participation from current buyers like Emergent Ventures, WestWave Capital, and Alumni Ventures.

The Los Altos, California, startup, which is now valued at $400 million, has raised over $74 million so far. It plans to make use of the brand new capital largely for acquisitions.

The corporate has additionally made its first acquisition, shopping for Prezentium, a services-led presentation firm that operates within the life sciences vertical. In an uncommon association, Prezent founder Rajat Mishra was one of many co-founders of Prezentium. Mishra stated that because the starting of his new startup, he has been the non-operating president of Prezentium. Each startups have already got an current relationship, as Prezent makes use of Prezentium as a go-to-market accomplice. The acquisition basically brings Mishra’s two ventures below one roof, permitting Prezent to make use of Prezentium’s shopper base to supply its personal AI suite to extra clients.

There are many corporations attempting to create AI-powered presentation-building instruments, together with Shows.ai, Lica, Gamma, and Chronicle. Notably, all these corporations have Accel as a backer. Whereas most of them give attention to shoppers and small enterprise customers, Prezent desires to stay to an enterprise technique, concentrating on bigger companies. Beforehand, the corporate acknowledged that it desires to broaden its choices to totally different verticals, together with finance and manufacturing. Nevertheless, Mishra famous that for now, the corporate desires to give attention to serving purchasers within the life sciences and tech industries.

“There are many instruments which can be attempting to make shows fairly. We need to present one of the best instruments for enterprise communications. I feel presentation is among the frontiers in companies that isn’t automated but. We need to assist information scientists and designers to speak successfully with this automation,” Mishra informed Trendster.

Mishra, who beforehand labored at McKinsey, stated that the corporate is taking a specialised strategy to coaching AI fashions for shows for every particular trade.

Prezent locations a presentation engineer, who’s accustomed to the trade and the startup’s personal choices, in enterprises to assist totally different individuals inside the firm get used to constructing shows with AI instruments.

“The truth of AI in enterprise is that whereas AI can do many issues, it could’t train individuals [how] to make use of AI. That’s the reason we need to place presentation engineers in corporations to assist our clients undertake the product quicker,” Mishra stated.

AI startups want to purchase providers corporations to reap the benefits of current buyer bases and likewise present higher customization to enterprise purchasers. Digital avatar startup D-ID acquired Berlin-based video startup Simpleshow, and Google-backed authorized tech startup Lawhive acquired a U.Ok.-based regulation agency. With these acquisitions, AI startups need to mix their AI instruments with the present area experience and shopper service capabilities of providers companies.

Prezent desires to construct extra partnerships and purchase appropriate corporations in sectors like govt communication teaching, medical writing, and consulting companies within the communication space.

Mark Terbeek, a accomplice at Greycroft who has invested in a number of rounds in Prezent, stated that the enterprise agency likes to seek out the areas the place companies have used expensive companies up to now to satisfy a necessity, and now there are AI instruments out there attempting to do the identical duties.

“We felt that Rajat and Prezent had been concentrating arduous on fixing particular buyer wants of enterprise communications. Plus, we noticed software program evolve rapidly to regulate to the workflows of finish customers and assist them save time,” he informed Trendster over a name.

Going ahead, Prezent desires so as to add higher personalization to its product so the AI instrument learns the type of every particular person within the group. It additionally desires so as to add multimodality capabilities to deck creations, permitting customers to make use of textual content, voice, or video as enter to make shows. Like Synthesia and D-ID, Prezent desires so as to add digital avatars to shows, too.