TrueState secures $1.5 million to deliver AI app development in days

A new AI startup is claiming that it can enable businesses to develop AI applications in a matter of days, rather than months. Coinciding with the launch is $1.5 million in funding from Airtree, Side Stage Ventures, Galileo Ventures and Imprint Capital Partners.

Founded by former McKinsey QuantumBlack consultant Will Ashford, TrueState offers a platform with AI application templates for businesses. When integrated with customers’ operational data, the templates support use cases such as predicting machinery failure and recommending actions to prevent customer churn.

TrueState looks to fill the gap between increased expectations for AI utilisation and the ability to deliver. While the pressure is on for businesses to adopt, many SMEs don’t have the ability to implement due to a lack of expertise, time, and resources.

“Every industry is being reshaped by AI. Winners are defined by their ability to harness the right AI tools to deliver real commercial value before their competitors,” TrueState founder and CEO, Will Ashford said to SmartCompany.

“But right now, we’re seeing most businesses in one of two scenarios. They are either investing in a huge tangle of third-party AI toys that are more hype than impact, or they are taking months or even years to build their own AI tools, often relying on costly external consultancy firms.”

TrueState aims to address these challenges by providing a platform that combines advanced AI technology with an intuitive interface, allowing non-technical teams to create and configure AI use cases.

The platform’s library of pre-built, customisable AI solutions includes secure AI model training and storage to ensure data privacy and security.

“Our templates are pre-built solutions that businesses can customise with their own data to create impact with AI faster than any other platform,” Ashford said.

“We can build a workflow in less than a day. From there, it’s down to how fast the person building the solution can get feedback on their results and iterate. To accelerate this iterative process, we’ve deployed an AI data scientist on the platform to advise customers about how to best improve their workflows, which is key for us to be able to scale our product.”

TrueState’s platform can be utilised by a variety of businesses, from direct-to-consumer companies wanting to create AI apps for upselling to manufacturers forecasting supply and demand to optimise inventory and cash flow. Other applications include sales recommendations, investment operations, pricing strategies, customer support, recruitment, staff retention, workplace safety, and relationship management.

“One of our customers is a Sydney-based investment firm that has implemented a system to better search for companies to invest in,” Ashford said.

“We’ve also worked with an Australian consumer retail brand on a competitive intelligence piece to enable the company to establish a pricing function.”

According to Ashford, some of his formative experience in this space came from working in McKinsey & Company’s AI division, QuantumBlack, advising clients globally on AI strategy. This also involves building bespoke software, from scratch, to be able to implement those strategies.

“Across countless clients and portfolio companies, the story was always the same; the complexity of building high-impact AI solutions was too much for most to handle. This meant they resorted to outsourcing the initial build of their solutions to AI experts, at a substantial cost,” Ashford said.

The recent funding round will allow TrueState to continue building its technical infrastructure with plans to expand into the US and UK markets later this year.

“Our priority is to continue building the technical infrastructure of the platform with plans to expand into the US and UK markets later this year,” Ashford said.

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