Former Tesla, Google Engineers Secure $4M for Pangram
On June 24, Pangram, a startup founded by former Tesla and Google employees, announced it has secured approximately $4 million in seed funding. This investment aims to help the company expand its tools that identify AI-generated text. As applications like ChatGPT become increasingly common, schools and businesses struggle to differentiate between human and machine writing. Consequently, the demand for reliable authorship verification tools is rising rapidly.
The seed round was led by venture capital firm ScOp, with participation from Script Capital and Cadenza, Pangram said on Tuesday. Previously, Haystack VC had led the initial pre-seed round, although the company did not disclose its valuation. Among Pangram’s clients are Quora, a popular question-and-answer platform, and NewsGuard, a service that rates trustworthiness. The startup believes its active learning algorithm will give it an advantage over established competitors like Turnitin.
Innovative Technology and Growth Plans
Pangram’s system improves through a feedback loop, which helps it learn from difficult examples by generating similar ones for further training. Moreover, the company relies on open-source models to reduce computing costs. “What makes great machine learning products in general is great data. And I think that’s like where we’ve kind of focused most of our effort,” said co-founder and technology chief Bradley Emi in an interview. Emi, a former Tesla engineer, co-founded the startup with fellow Stanford graduate Max Spero.
Currently, Pangram employs eight people. The startup plans to use the new funding to expand its team and broaden its product offerings, including services aimed at consumers. According to its website, the company charges individuals $15 a month for up to 600 AI scans. Meanwhile, professional and developer plans cost $45 and $100, respectively. This tiered pricing structure aims to accommodate a wide range of users needing AI text detection tools.
Meeting the Challenges of AI Text Flooding Classrooms and Workplaces
As AI-generated content increasingly floods classrooms and offices, institutions urgently seek solutions to distinguish genuine human writing from machine-produced text. Schools and businesses are scrambling to keep pace with this rapid change. Therefore, Pangram’s tools come at a crucial time, helping customers verify authorship and maintain content integrity. By focusing on data quality and leveraging advanced learning methods, the startup positions itself to meet this growing demand effectively.
