An Indian startup called Presentations.ai, which utilises artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses create presentation decks rapidly, has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Accel to expand its software, which has reached the end of beta after gaining millions of customers.
Whether a company is a startup or a major organisation, presentations are used frequently to inform investors, attract new clients, and share accomplishments within the organisation. However, companies continue to face difficulties, devoting hours to crafting persuasive presentations—a task that becomes even more crucial when aiming to attract investors or clients.
In an exclusive interview, Sumanth Raghavendra, co-founder and CEO of Presenations.ai, stated that “people struggle to take the first draft of a presentation.”
With its AI-powered platform, which has been utilised by more than 5 million individuals globally since its public beta launch in 2023, the Bengaluru-based business has made it easier. “We would like to be the presentation’s ChatGPT. Consider leveraging AI to create a presentation, utilising the same framework that ChatGPT does, Raghavendra said TechCrunch.
Presentations.ai was founded in 2019 and decided that the time had come to come out of stealth and begin enrolling new users when ChatGPT emerged in late 2022. Within three months of going into public beta, the firm had a million users and was already turning a “millions of dollars” profit, according to Raghavendra.
Prior to Presentations.ai, Raghvendra was the founder of Deck App Technologies, a company that created a smartphone app to assist users in creating business material. He did point out that the previous endeavour had a “limited degree of success” because mobile devices were not used to produce content other than videos.
According to Raghvendra, his team has developed intellectual property related to presentation building over the years, which has allowed Presentations.ai to become a competitive player in the crowded market where startups and even major tech companies like Google and Microsoft are attempting to make presentation-building easier with generative AI.
“I’m pretty sure we are far ahead of everyone else because we have been doing this for so long, and the fact that many users pay us to use our software is proof positive for us. Generally speaking, they have tried rivals like Google and Microsoft, Raghvendra claimed.
Following its initial success, the startup changed its beta tester experience from being totally free to a freemium model in early 2024. With varying tiers and localised pricing across geographies, Raghvendra told TechCrunch that the company now has “tens of thousands” of paying users that pay for its service, which starts at $200 per user annually in the U.S.
In addition to its own tiny language models designed for certain tasks, including determining which chart best fits a given topic, the startup uses “frontier” LLMs. Additionally, it makes use of the text-to-image models Flux and Stable Diffusion to assist users in producing visuals for use in presentations with prompts.
Presentations.ai offers tools such as presentation styles and theme palettes to create decks according to user preferences. Additionally, it provides capabilities like bilingual support, sharing and real-time synchronisation, and an AI-powered design assistance to develop presentations based on various concepts.
In a similar vein, the startup offers brand templates that correspond to the specific brand styles of its consumers. Additionally, it enables users to export their presentations as PDFs or as PowerPoint files for additional editing.
In particular, Presentations.ai features “guardrails” to reassure enterprise clients that it has a high standard compared to its competitors. The data pipelines the startup has developed over the years to limit hallucination—the slang term for AI-generated false or misleading content—are used to create these barriers, according to Raghvendra. Additionally, the platform enables businesses to limit access to sensitive information that they do not wish to be shared with other users. For example, the CFO can see financial data that front-line employees should not have access to.
Additionally, hosting a private instance of the software is permitted by the startup. It also offers organization-wide licensing so that staff members can work together on a certain presentation.
The business intends to use the early money to produce a specialised presentation agent that can create presentations inside of any application, Raghvendra told TechCrunch. Additionally, an enterprise sales force is planned.
According to Raghvendra, the business has so far spent “zero” on marketing. The CEO added that because it owns intellectual property, its AI patent expenses are comparatively lower and its profit margins are larger than those of other businesses that use AI to enable presentations.
The United States accounts for 20% of the startup’s income, with India coming in second. Among its other important markets are the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the Middle East.
Learnt Indian entrepreneurs such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Kunal Shah of CRED, Girish Mathrubhootham of Freshworks, and Phanindra Sama of RedBus were among those who participated in the seed round.
The Indian startup scene is booming, and a new wave of AI-powered solutions is emerging to revolutionize various industries. One such company is making waves with its innovative approach to presentation creation. This “ChatGPT for presentations” is poised to transform how professionals and students alike craft compelling presentations.
This groundbreaking platform, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, empowers users to effortlessly generate professional-looking presentations with minimal effort. By simply providing the core message or key talking points, the AI engine takes over, crafting visually appealing slides with impactful visuals, compelling narratives, and data-driven insights.
Key Features That Set This Platform Apart:
- AI-Powered Content Generation: The platform intelligently generates engaging content, including bullet points, narratives, and even persuasive arguments, tailored to the user’s specific needs and target audience.
- Automated Design & Layout: Say goodbye to tedious design work. The AI engine automatically selects visually appealing layouts, fonts, and color schemes, ensuring a polished and professional look.
- Data Visualization: Effortlessly transform raw data into insightful charts, graphs, and infographics, making complex information easy to understand and digest.
- Image Generation: Integrate visually stunning images and graphics directly into the presentation using AI-powered image generation tools, adding a creative touch and enhancing visual appeal.
- Collaboration & Feedback: Seamlessly collaborate with colleagues, share presentations, and gather feedback in real-time, streamlining the presentation creation process.
Impact on the Market:
This innovative platform has the potential to significantly impact the presentation landscape. By automating many of the time-consuming tasks associated with presentation creation, it empowers professionals to focus on their core message and deliver impactful presentations with greater efficiency. Students can also benefit immensely, leveraging the AI to overcome presentation anxiety and create more engaging and impactful presentations.
The Future of Presentations:
As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more sophisticated presentation creation tools to emerge. This “ChatGPT for presentations” marks a significant step forward, demonstrating the transformative power of AI to revolutionize how we work, communicate, and present information. With its user-friendly interface and powerful AI capabilities, this platform is poised to become an indispensable tool for professionals and students alike.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a hypothetical scenario and for illustrative purposes only. The specific features and capabilities of the platform may vary.
This article aims to:
- Highlight the uniqueness of the concept: Emphasizing its “ChatGPT for presentations” positioning.
- Focus on key features: Detailing the key AI-powered functionalities.
- Discuss potential impact: Exploring the potential impact on professionals and students.
- Maintain a professional and informative tone: Providing a clear and concise overview of the technology.
This approach creates a compelling narrative that highlights the innovative nature of this hypothetical AI-powered presentation tool.