Hone, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup developing autonomous systems for enterprise operations, has raised $60 million in seed funding led by Benchmark and Index Ventures.
The financing valued the company at $285 million, according to Bloomberg, which attributed the valuation to Hone. Other investors in the round included Elad Gil, Hanabi, Definition, Diffusion, Lux Capital, SV Angel and Align.
Hone was co-founded by Moritz Stephan, Oliver Brady and Carlo Kobe. The founding team brings experience in artificial intelligence research, software engineering and enterprise technology, including previous roles at Cognition and Mercor.
The company develops autonomous AI systems called Engines, designed to take responsibility for ongoing business objectives rather than execute isolated tasks. These systems are intended to operate across an organisation’s existing software, data and workflows while coordinating with employees.
Hone’s platform allows enterprises to assign specific outcomes to AI systems, such as improving customer retention, increasing sales conversions, reducing procurement expenses or managing operational risks.
According to the company, its Engines can learn from an organisation’s historical processes, build reusable workflows and adapt their actions based on feedback. The platform also includes simulation capabilities, access controls and approval mechanisms intended to help businesses manage autonomous operations.
The new funding will support further development of Hone’s autonomous AI systems and expansion of its platform capabilities as the company builds technology for managing longer-term enterprise workflows.
