Context, a startup constructing an AI-powered workplace suite, on Wednesday introduced that it raised $11 million in a seed spherical led by Lux Capital with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and Normal Catalyst. The spherical, which brings the corporate’s whole raised to round $15.75 million, values Context at $70 million.
Founder Joseph Semrai, a Thiel Fellow, began engaged on Context in 2024 after he realized that present digital workplace suites will not be properly suited to benefit from AI fashions.
“[W]e have a bunch of disparate applications that aren’t necessarily built keeping the power of [AI models] in mind,” Semrai instructed TechCrunch in a cellphone interview. “We want to take advantage of the fact that [models] can understand large context windows and use multiple applications at the same time to get the best result.”
Over the previous few years, many startups in the productiveness and shopping area have made person interface adjustments to undertake a chat-forward expertise, largely because of the rise of AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT. Semrai thinks that Context, which is equally chat-focused, could be a highly effective instrument for employees utilizing an workplace suite, just like how Cursor has turn into a helpful software for programmers.
Workplace suite makers like Google and Microsoft have infused AI into their purposes. Canva, which has been within the inventive area traditionally, can also be designing merchandise that go well with every kind of workplace work with AI on the middle. Notion, in the meantime, is constructing an enterprise office with an AI search and analysis mode.
Many of those merchandise provide connectors to third-party purposes. However Semrai stated that whereas connecting to sources and retrieving information is turning into commoditized, new-age instruments don’t at all times ship capabilities that assist with evaluation. That, he stated, is the place Context is available in — it’s designed to make it simpler for customers to purpose over the info they fetch from varied sources and make choices primarily based on that.
Context has a easy interface with a chat field within the middle. You may ask the AI instrument to carry out analysis derived out of your paperwork, integrations, and internet data. You may then ask it to transform all this to a doc, spreadsheet, or presentation, whereas persevering with to work together with it to generate completely different artifacts.
Context additionally affords a Python interpreter to allow you to run code.
The purpose isn’t essentially changing a fully-featured workplace suite like Microsoft 365. Moderately, Context goes after a market not well-served by the present crop of instruments, in response to Semrai. For instance, in contrast to many AI-powered information evaluation merchandise, Context will quickly be capable of work offline, enabling easy evaluation and doc drafting primarily based on present information and paperwork through Context’s desktop shopper.
Customers can check out Context totally free with 50 credit, one workspace, and 10 staff members. Alternatively, they’ll pay $20 per 30 days to get 2,000 credit with no limits on workspaces and staff members.
