Why we Invested: Squark
Artificial Intelligence has been described as the next Industrial Revolution. While this revolution does not have the same obvious physical manifestations of past phases of human industry (factories, power plants, highways, laying fiber optics, broadband in homes, launching satellites, etc), it is also showing up in the amount of data we are able to process and the insights and outcomes we are able to generate to inform future business and personal decisions. Overall, AI is permeating the fabric of our digital, social and physical lives: from how quickly you receive packages from Amazon to how efficiently and accurately medical conditions are diagnosed. It’s always on, it is everywhere and impacting pervasively all aspects of our daily lives.
With every Industrial Revolution, there is always a potential divide created between those who invested early and those who are playing catch-up. Sadly, there is always the subset that is left behind. This disparity exists with AI as well, accelerating a new digital divide constructed with access to sophisticated cloud computing, expensive data pipelines, custom GPU hardware and PhDs with deep expertise in everything from statistical analysis to quantum computing. With AI at the digital fingertips of only the wealthiest of companies and individuals, this power enables them with a distinctly unique competitive advantage that the average business or individual simply does not have access to. How does the average business or individual compete in this new playing field?
Squark, that’s how. Squark is a Boston-based startup founded by Dan Hess and Judah Phillips that is squarely focused on the democratization of AI for the business user. The company’s “no code” solution enables individuals or businesses to access AI-driven decisions in clicks, with no programming nor data scientists needed. Through frictionless data connectivity and a simple workflow which has the user answering a small set of questions, the platform will generate predictions in near real time.
Our team at TBD Angels was immediately impressed by Dan’s and Judah’s passion for solving the problem and in seeing how Squark enables businesses to answer complex questions using data readily available at their fingertips. Having personally experienced large functional gaps or overly expensive and manually-supported solutions, we were convinced the space was ripe for innovation and disruption. Squark shifts the application of AI by empowering businesses to generate profitable outcomes without complexity. Predictive modeling and scoring pipeline is possible with a few clicks in a self-service toolset that empower global users, with AI-driven answers to their business questions.
Squark customers agree. As part of our investment evaluation, we interviewed customers and found that early adopters are generating extreme value in the platform. Customers raved about the ease of use and the accessibility of AI functions that would take their teams “years to build and support”. A 2000-person global marketing agency experienced a 4.3% increase in revenue on a 12% reduction in marketing costs. Impressively, Squark had also been generating an 8x ROI for a 45,000 person global media firm. These early business users have been expanding their use of Squark across their teams and problem sets.
16 members of the TBD Angels syndicate participated in a ~$200k investment in Squark’s seed round, making Squark the largest TBD Angels investment to-date. Squark is in the position to rapidly scale and help democratize AI for businesses and individuals, so they can compete with the same level of sophistication as some of the largest companies in the world.
Scott Weller is a member of TBD Angels
