Instabase

Instabase is a technology company headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides an Applied AI platform that can be used to understand any content such as documents, files, databases, etc., and build workflows to automate business processes.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Instabase, Inc
TypePrivate
IndustrySoftware
Founded2015 (2015)
FounderAnant Bhardwaj
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States[1]
Number of locations
San Francisco, New York, London, and Bangalore
Area served
Worldwide
Websiteinstabase.com

History

Instabase was founded by Anant Bhardwaj in 2015, when he was a Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[9] At MIT, he met several influential mentors who encouraged him to pursue different research projects — one of these projects eventually became Instabase.[10] In July 2015, he dropped out of the Ph.D. program, and moved to San Francisco to raise capital. Greylock Partners and New Enterprise Associates were the first investors in the company.[1]

In 2017, then a 4-person company, Instabase largely remained in the stealth mode when Martin Casado from Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A. At that time, CNBC reported that Instabase is building a "social network for data".[9]

In 2019, for the first time Instabase officially disclosed its product offerings and customers in an interview with Bloomberg TV.[8] Bhardwaj in the interview provided details on how the software platform powered by Artificial Intelligence is helping financial services enterprises such as large banks and insurance companies build customizable workflows for automating their critical business processes such as Invoice Processing, Lending, Know your customer (KYC), and Client Onboarding.[7][8]

Pivot to Deep Learning & Transformers

In 2020, Instabase heavily invested in transformer-based layout-aware language models and creating pre-trained base foundation models which its customers could fine-tune according to their specific requirements in-house.[6] In 2021, Instabase disclosed that its AI platform has fully migrated to using transformer based deep learning architecture under the hood, and announced the launch of several pre-trained base foundation models included as part of the platform, which could be used for understanding any content as part of building workflows for automating business processes.[11]

AI Hub

In 2023, Instabase announced that it is incorporating Large Language Models in its product with a public launch of AI Hub, a repository of AI apps focused on content understanding and a set of Generative AI based tools for building AI applications.[2] As part of AI Hub launch, Instabase announced 3 key product offerings: AI Hub Converse, AI Hub Build, and AI Hub Apps.[2][4][5][6] In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Instabase founder Anant Bhardwaj also discussed their partnership with Open AI and use of their GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 models. [2][3][4][5][6]

  • AI Hub Converse is essentially a chat interface on private data (files, databases, etc.) designed to help users seamlessly chat and analyze any content such as documents, files, audio, video, databases, etc. With the chat interface, users can quickly explore their content, ask questions about their content, and get the information they need.[4][5][6]

Funding

On August 31, 2015 The Wall Street Journal reported that Instabase had raised $3.75 million from Greylock Partners and New Enterprise Associates to build a cloud based hub for running data applications.[1]

On June 14, 2017, CNBC reported that Instabase raised a $23.2 million Series A led by Martin Casado of Andreessen Horowitz to build social network for data.[9]

On Oct 21, 2019, Bloomberg News reported that Instabase has raised a Series B of $105 million, led by Index Ventures and joined by Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, SC Ventures, and Glynn Capital, which valued the company at over $1 billion.[7] On the same day, Instabase founder Anant Bhardwaj and Sarah Cannon (a partner at Index Ventures) appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss the details of what the company does and who are its customers.[8][7][12][13][14]

On June 6, 2023, Bloomberg News reported that Instabase has doubled its valuation to $2B in its latest round of Series C, and the launch of AI Hub, a Generative AI based platform for content understanding.[2] In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Instabase founder Anant Bhardwaj discussed the launch of AI Hub, the current macro environment, and their partnership with Open AI.[2][3][4][5][6]

Acquisitions

On February 14, 2018, Instabase announced that it had acquired Cloudstitch, a web development platform that uses spreadsheets as the back-end.[15]

References
  1. Hay, Timothy (August 31, 2015). "Instabase Stockpiles $3.7M for Hiring". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  2. McBride, Sarah (June 6, 2023). "Startup Instabase Notches $2 Billion Valuation, Incorporates New AI". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  3. Bhardwaj, Anant (June 6, 2023). "Startup Instabase Notches $2B Valuation, Incorporates AI" (Online video of television program). Bloomberg Technology (Interview). Interviewed by Caroline Hyde in New York and Ed Ludlow from San Francisco. Bloomberg. Retrieved June 6, 2023. Business services startup Instabase has raised a new round of funding that doubles its valuation to $2 billion, a deal buoyed by the company's use of new generative artificial intelligence tools in its suite of corporate products. Instabase founder and CEO joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow to discuss.
  4. Dey, Victor (June 7, 2023). "Instabase lands $45M investment to help companies automate document processing". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  5. Wiggers, Kyle (June 6, 2023). "Instabase unveils AI Hub, a generative AI platform for content understanding". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  6. Urunkar, Salil (June 24, 2023). "Offering AI platform to grow revenue, boost efficiency and improve customer experiences". Hindustan Times. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  7. McBride, Sarah (October 21, 2019). "Instabase Achieves Unicorn Status and Finally Explains What It Does". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  8. Bhardwaj, Anant; Cannon, Sarah (October 21, 2019). "The Business Model Behind Silicon Valley's Newest Unicorn" (Online video of television program). Bloomberg Technology (Interview). Interviewed by Taylor Riggs. Bloomberg. Retrieved November 1, 2019. Instabase Inc. Chief Executive Officer Anant Bhardwaj and Index Ventures Partner Sarah Cannon discuss Instabase's business model and the tech IPO landscape with Bloomberg's Taylor Riggs on Bloomberg Technology.
  9. Novet, Jordan (June 14, 2017). "VC firm Andreessen Horowitz explains why it led a $23 million round in a social network for data". CNBC. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  10. "How Instabase found product-market fit". www.unusual.vc. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  11. Titlow, John Paul (December 9, 2021). "Instabase adds deep learning to make sense of unstructured data". VentureBeat. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  12. "Instabase Hits Unicorn Status on $105 Million Raise". Cheddar (TV channel). October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  13. "With Instabase, Anant Bhardwaj gives US a brand-new Unicorn". The Economic Times. October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  14. Mathur, Priyamvada (October 21, 2019). "Instabase tops $1B valuation with app-building tool suite". PitchBook Data. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  15. "Instabase Acquires Cloudstitch". Retrieved December 4, 2020.
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