Woman using artificial intelligence technology on laptop with glasses reflection.
Inventive, a Silicon Valley-based startup transforming enterprise SaaS with embedded AI, has officially launched with a $6.5 million seed funding round. Led by Wing VC (known for backing AI-first companies like Snowflake, Pinecone, and Gong) this investment includes contributions from Tokyo Black and a prominent group of angel investors, featuring former Google and Meta executives. This infusion of capital will propel Inventive's mission to streamline AI integration in customer-facing software products, enabling businesses to deliver smarter, faster solutions.
Inventive is dedicated to helping enterprise and high-growth companies transform the customer experience and drive revenue by integrating a conversational AI copilot. Their AI Analyst integrates seamlessly into SaaS products, allowing users to explore, save, and operationalize insights from their trusted data using natural language. This focus on core business functions extends data capabilities to meet diverse customer needs. Co-founder & Head of Product Kavita Shah explains, “My motivation for founding Inventive stems directly from the pain points I experienced at previous companies with this problem.”
By offering a premium AI Analyst copilot within their products, companies can transform their customer service cost centers into profit centers, providing their users not only with valuable and trusted responses to data questions, but also with smart proactive alerts and advanced analytical AI capabilities to conduct deeper analyses to solve more complex business problems. Companies like CommVault (CVLT) are already leveraging this platform to accelerate the customer impact of AI.
"Today's enterprises need AI solutions that deliver tangible business value," explains Erik Kuld, Co-Founder & CEO of Inventive. "Our platform empowers product leaders to enhance customer experiences and deploy these improvements in days rather than months. This acceleration in innovation and customer satisfaction drives adoption and revenue growth."
The Founding Team
Co-founded in 2022 by Erik Kuld, Kavita Shah (fun fact: the co-founders Erik and Kavita are married!) and Clarence Tso, Inventive benefits from the founders' vast experience at industry giants such as Google, YouTube, Microsoft, and Meta. Their combined expertise in domain knowledge, product development, and technical innovation positions Inventive as a leader in embedding AI into enterprise software.
Erik and Kavita, who share not only a professional partnership but also a marital bond, bring a unique dynamic to the company's leadership. Kavita remarks, “It’s obviously not for everyone - but for us, it’s great! We strive for clear ownership wherever possible and try to leverage our unique strengths and perspectives. Having Clarence Tso as our third cofounder is also hugely impactful in bringing balance as the third leg of our co-founding team stool”.
A Robust Platform for AI Integration
Inventive's platform offers a robust suite of tools designed for the efficient configuration, testing, evaluation, monitoring, management, customization, and monetization of embedded AI experiences. Inventive's platform gives product teams AI-native building blocks to make smarter SaaS products and customer experiences. This holistic approach simplifies the integration of AI, removing traditional barriers and reducing costs.
“With Inventive, product teams don’t have to worry about the steep costs or other hurdles typically associated with integrating AI into their products”, said Chris Zeoli, Partner at Wing VC. “The Inventive team is set to redefine how AI is integrated into product experiences, and we’re thrilled to be a part of their journey towards shaping how businesses leverage AI to meet evolving customer needs”.
Future Plans and Vision
Erik Kuld elaborates on the future plans, “We’re on a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to smarter products. Everyone should have the ability to be data-driven — especially your customers — and complicated software tools or lack of technical skill shouldn’t get in the way. We’re using this funding to expand our team, enhance our AI agent platform, and grow our customer base.”
