Syracuse LaunchPad startup OthersideAI announces funding of $2.6 million to bring magic to your inbox

Matt Shumer, Miles Feldstein and Jason Kuperberg, co-founders of OthersideAI (left to right)

OthersideAI today announced seed funding of $2.6 million led by Madrona Venture Group and joined by Active Capital, Hustle Fund, Chapter One, and top angel investors in AI and SaaS.  Otherside AI is led by Syracuse University students Matt Shumer and Miles Feldstein and alumnus Jason Kuperberg who met at the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University where they created the venture.

OthersideAI brings productivity magic to the email inbox, turning simple summaries into beautifully written emails in seconds. The platform enables users to save significant time managing their email correspondence. Since announcing the then-project in a tweet mid-summer, the waitlist to onboard with OthersideAI has grown by thousands and has garnered accolades from AI experts around the world.

The team developed OthersideAI as part of the LaunchPad’s 2020 SummerStart Accelerator program.  Shumer, Feldstein and Kuperberg have been active members of the LaunchPad program for several years.  Shumer was a participant in the LaunchPad Lift program, and Shumer and Feldstein were part of a top team in the recent national Techstars Startup Weekend USA Remote competition.  The three co-founders have been participants in numerous campus and national competitions including ‘Cuse Tank, Impact Prize, ACC InVenture Prize, iPrize, Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship competition, Orange Tank and the Hult Prize.  Shumer and Kuperberg were both LaunchPad Global Fellows, and all three Otherside AI co-founders mentor current LaunchPad teams.  Shumer was a Rubin Family Innovation Mentor last year at the LaunchPad.  They remain actively engaged in the program.  “This wouldn’t have been possible without the Blackstone & Techstars LaunchPad network and Syracuse University’s LaunchPad,” said Shumer, who is CEO of the company.

OthersideAI is one of the first commercial products built entirely on GPT-3, the incredibly powerful, general-purpose AI model from OpenAI which delivers natural-language results for virtually any task.

“Email is a crucial application for getting business done, communicating with friends and family, and where we, admittedly, spend many hours a day. However, unlike other applications, email hasn’t evolved in decades. OthersideAI changes that dynamic by helping users compose thoughtful emails with just a couple of bullet points – and in their own personal style,” said Shumer.  “The response we have had from our early users – and from those who have seen the demo – has been overwhelming and we are looking forward to rolling out OthersideAI more broadly in the coming months.”

Currently available as a Chrome Extension, OthersideAI will use the funding to grow the development team, add support for new email clients, and expand the current feature set to include personal style and tone settings. Join the waitlist here.

OthersideAI was one of the first companies to be granted access to the OpenAI API to help test and refine the technology and has been working closely with OpenAI to build to the safety standards of both entities.

“We strongly believe that AI and Natural Language Processing technologies such as GPT-3 will transform many aspects of our lives – from work to our health to leisure. Since our first investment in commercially viable AI technology more than seven years ago, we have looked to back innovative founders like Matt, Miles and Jason, who are building solutions and products that will have significant impact. We are so excited to work with this team as they bring their first product to market,” said Matt McIlwain, managing director, Madrona Venture Group.

About OthersideAI

OthersideAI is transforming the way we communicate, starting with email. Leveraging the latest in AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, OthersideAI takes in a simple summary of what you want to say, and generates a perfect email in your personal style. It’s email magic. OthersideAI.com

About Madrona Venture Group

Madrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies since 1995. The firm invests predominantly in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, and in 2018 raised a fund to expand initial investments into acceleration stage companies. Madrona manages approximately $1.8 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon, Smartsheet, Rover, and Redfin.

Read the original news release from Madrona here on Business Wire:

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201112005064/en/OthersideAI-Announces-Funding-of-2.6-Million-to-Bring-Magic-to-Your-Inbox