SuperAGI Secures $10 Million Investment Led by Newlands VC

What to know: SuperAGI, a startup with ambitions to build a full-stack artificial general intelligence (AGI) platform based on large agentic models (LAMs), has secured a $10 million investment led by Newlands VC, an investment firm backed by WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum. The funding will be used for further research, middleware, and software applications to enhance AI reliability across various use cases. Notably, the startup has already gained traction with 20,000 developers from major companies like Microsoft, Google, Tencent, Tesla, JP Morgan Chase, and OpenAI using its tools. SuperAGI aims to address the limitations of existing large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT when it comes to taking actions, positioning itself as a solution for more practical AI applications.

Deeper details: Newlands VC, the secretive investment firm led by ex-Sequoia partner Michael Abramson and backed by Jan Koum, has made its first public investment in SuperAGI. While details about Newlands VC are scarce, the firm has been actively evaluating AI startups, with SuperAGI being its initial foray into this space. The investment comes at a crucial time for AI startups, as despite the continued interest in generative AI tools, overall investments in AI companies saw a decline in Q4 of 2023. However, big tech players like Microsoft and Google remain committed to investing in AI startups, indicating ongoing support for innovation in the industry.

The backstory: SuperAGI, headquartered in Palo Alto with a presence in Bengaluru, began its journey in early 2023 focusing on agentic research and autonomous agents. The startup's first product, Contlo, caters to marketing needs by offering a comprehensive campaign and automation tool for businesses. With over 1,000 global brands already using Contlo, SuperAGI has demonstrated its ability to address practical industry requirements. Additionally, the startup's latest offering, Verk, aims to provide AI-powered virtual employees for various roles like sales representatives, graphic designers, and market researchers, offering a unique solution for businesses seeking efficient and versatile AI support.

A history of growth: SuperAGI's innovative approach to AI development includes the creation of its own large agentic models (LAMs) and autonomous agents framework, which have outperformed larger models from tech giants like Microsoft and OpenAI in reasoning benchmarks. By open-sourcing its infrastructure, SuperAGI enables companies to build agentic systems tailored to their needs. The startup's vision model, VEagle, enhances textual understanding and image interpretation, allowing for human-like actions in software applications. By collaborating with industry leaders like AutoGPT, Microsoft, and OpenAI to establish new agent benchmarks, SuperAGI aims to advance the field of artificial intelligence in a comprehensive and impactful manner.