People are an organization’s most valuable asset. Their knowledge and skills are what drive a company forward. As organizations scale, they build internal knowledge bases to serve as central repositories for data, documentation, and basic information on processes and protocols. Louisa is an AI-powered knowledge engine for understanding employee capabilities and their networks within an organization. Initially focused on the deal side of the finance industry, covering banking, venture, management consulting, private equity, etc., the platform is event-driven, tracking client and prospect news and augmenting this information with suggested contacts within a company that can assist with originating new deals or cross-sell in an automated fashion without having to leave one’s inbox. Organizations using the Louisa map their collective expertise and increase internal productivity by allowing employees to focus on closing deals instead of hunting down the right colleague who may be able to help close a deal. Inspired by a serendipitous moment at a bulge bracket, Louisa seeks to replicate serendipity to drive sales enablement across organizations by coupling artificial intelligence with human capital.
AlleyWatch caught up with Louisa Founder and CEO Rohan Doctor to learn more about the business, the company’s strategic plans, recent round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Louisa AI just raised a $5M Seed round as of March 2024 from friends, family, angel investors, early-stage VC, and Oxford University.
Tell us about the product or service that Louisa offers.
Louisa is an AI-powered Deal Prompt platform that was born at Goldman Sachs and spun out to become an independent company in 2023. We help companies foster serendipitous revenues through AI. Louisa helps organizations drive revenues by figuring out “who knows who” and “who knows what” within those organizations. Based on daily market news feeds, it then proactively taps people with the right warm lead with the right expertise at the right time to connect the dots and uncover more business opportunities.
What inspired the start of Louisa?
I was a Managing Director and 17-year veteran at Goldman Sachs. While I ran the Banks Solutions business, I closed a record-breaking revenue transaction in 2017. When management asked, “How did you do it?” The answer was serendipity. I had met the right internal persona the right time at the water cooler in London, and months later, we closed a cross-border funding that no one thought was possible. The second question was, “How can you do it again?” My answer was, how could we help companies foster serendipitous revenues through AI? And just like that, the concept of Louisa was born, igniting a journey toward revolutionizing business success.
How is Louisa different?
Louisa AI is the first company to help systematize serendipity through AI and data; it is also the only company to combine expertise, relationships, and intelligence to do this.
What market does Louisa target and how big is it?
Louisa AI is targeting a very large market and is currently focused on the financial vertical, specifically across banking, PE, VC, and management consulting based on our key 4 clients. However, the concept is market-agnostic and can complement industries outside of Finance.
What’s your business model?
B2B SaaS model with monthly subscriptions based on per-user pricing
How are you preparing for a potential economic slowdown?
Louisa AI built a talented technology and product team which is based in India, which helps with the overall overhead burn as we focus commercial operations in the US to convert more clients.
What was the funding process like?
It was fun. Given our whole business is about network effects, we only went to people that had some warm intro to us or knew me personally. So, the trust level was high and we got straight into the process.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Getting to a yes from many interested parties was hard. This got easier once we set a deal or no-deal deadline.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Our business-first and people-first approach to Louisa AI, our unique spin-out from Goldman Sachs with 4 years’ worth of IP, and that we were post revenue with three blue-chip paying customers.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Develop cutting-edge AI use cases and go-to-market outside of Consulting and Finance with Oxford University’s MBA class, JV with Harvard PhDs and Oxford AI Labs on LLMs, and move from founder-led sales to professional sales in NY, London, and Hong Kong.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Bootstrapping and working backwards from a paying customer as a consultant can be a lot of fun and help you get that product-market fit. I funded Louisa out of my own bank about for a few months before the customer revenues and investor checks came in. That ‘all-in’ energy has stayed with us since then.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will become the people and deal operating system for knowledge-based companies starting with Finance and Consulting.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Indochine.
