A new artificial intelligence startup wants to help software development teams capture, store, and query their company data and knowledge.
Augmend recently emerged from stealth mode with $2.2 million in new funding. The startup, spun out of Madrona Venture Labs, aims to streamline knowledge-sharing among developers, reduce repetitive questioning for leaders, and preserve information from longtime employees.
The idea is to replace monotonous demo videos, docs, and wiki pages with a so-called “shared brain” — a company-specific knowledge bank that employees can access whenever they have questions.
Founded earlier this year, the 5-person startup is led by CEO Diamond Bishop, a former engineering leader at Meta that led teams on the open-source machine learning project PyTorch. He also has experience developing AI products at Amazon and Microsoft. Bishop is joined by CTO Tim Misiak, who held various software engineering leadership roles at Microsoft.
Augmend creates the shared brain by recording both on- and off-screen actions. The tool captures app transitions, terminal commands, and code logs, along with audio transcripts and video. The idea is to create a cohesive timeline and tutorial for employees.
The startup is developing a chat bar for users to make natural language queries. It uses large language models, optical character recognition software, and an in-house matching algorithm to pull up relevant data. For instance, if a developer is stuck on a company-specific coding problem in the middle of the night, they can search Augmend with their question using natural language without having to bother a colleague or boss.
Augmend is focused on protecting user data and intellectual property. Bishop said the company is adding standard data security policies, encryption, and strict access controls. He said customers will have control over their data, with the ability to delete recordings at any time. The startup uses APIs from OpenAI, but it intends to transition to an open-source model to enhance data privacy and prevent potential leaks to external services, Bishop said.
There are a number of well-funded competitors that are also creating knowledge-based platforms. Rewind AI records audio, visual, and verbal interactions, building a searchable shared memory database. The New York-based startup raised more than $27 million and is valued at $350 million.
There is also San Francisco-based Loom, which sells an enterprise collaboration video messaging service and has more than 21 million users. It raised more than $200 million in funding from notable firms including A16Z, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, Coatue, and General Catalyst.
Augmend targets organizations rather than individuals and captures content beyond just video-based workflows, Bishop said. The startup is in a closed private preview and plans to roll out a generally available version later this year, he said.
Other investors in the funding round include Essence VC, 8-Bit Capital, Wayfinder Ventures, Tau Ventures, Recursion VC, and angel investors Kevin Moore, Karthik Ramakrishnan, Allison Pickens, Andrew Miklas, and Patrick Peterson.
