Canva, Linktree backer AirTree puts $1m into AI start-up Narrato

The wave of interest in artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT has led to a generative AI ‘gold rush’ for certain start-ups.

Narrato founder and chief executive Sophia Solanki.

Canva and Linktree backer AirTree Ventures has ploughed $1m into marketing tech start-up Narrato, the latest start-up to capitalise on the AI craze brought on by products such as ChatGPT, and tech giants Google and Microsoft.

Founded last year by serial entrepreneur Sophia Solanki, who had already built and sold another AI content start-up, the San Francisco-based Narrato offers an AI content assistant to help marketers with text, and image content generation and optimisation.

Sydney-based venture capital outfit AirTree Ventures led the funding round at an undisclosed valuation, with participation from global venture fund TheFund, angel investors including entrepreneur Shreesha Ramdas, and the founders of $US3bn commerce platform OfBusiness.

“At AirTree we love to be right by a founder’s side, right from the start of their journey and we’re thrilled to be leading Narrato’s pre-seed round,” AirTree partner Elicia McDonald said.

“Having identified the massive opportunity for generative AI in content marketing and already successfully built two companies in this space, Sophia knows the market inside out.

“She has a strong connection to the problem and has achieved impressive traction for a company at such an early stage, especially considering they’ve bootstrapped to date.”

AirTree Ventures partner Elicia McDonald. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The wave of interest in artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT has led to a generative AI “gold rush” among start-ups, which are winning a lion’s share of venture capital backing despite increasingly dire macroeconomic conditions for tech companies.

Statistics from GlobalData’s financial deals database reveal that AI start-ups received $US52.1bn globally in 2022.

Canva last week announced a suite of new AI-based tools including Magic Design which users can upload any image and automatically generate a design, Beat Sync which can automatically match video to a soundtrack and Magic Write, an AI-powered copywriting assistant similar to ChatGPT.

Ms Solanki said the content marketing sector was estimated to grow by $US584bn between 2022 and 2027, but the downturn has caused companies to be more cost conscious and marketers have felt pressure to create more content with less resources.

She said the funding would be used to fuel Narrato’s growth across the US and then internationally.

Its customers include payment software firm Chargebee and Preply, which has reported a 40 per cent jump in content production.

“Customers have often told us how difficult and expensive it is to scale their content processes, while ensuring both quality and efficiency. Although there are point solutions to create content through generative AI, there is a big opportunity to deeply embed this capability into existing marketing workflows,” Ms Solanki said.

“We want Narrato to be the AI-powered content workspace where companies can bring their entire marketing workflow and use AI seamlessly at the right moments.”