In a Nutshell
- Warsaw-based Proofs, a startup using AI agents to accelerate the proof-of-concept phase in software sales, raised €2.4M in a pre-seed round.
- It was led by Earlybird Digital East Fund with support from Expeditions Fund, Step Function Ventures, RTP Global, including a number of angel investors – Robin Haak, Jens Lapinski, Tomasz Karwatka, Piotr Karwatka, and Nick Davidov.
- The funds will be allocated to product development, hiring new talent, and preparing the go-to-market strategy, specifically targeting mid-market and enterprise customers in the US.
Their Background Story
Polish-founded Proofs, established in 2022 by Bartek Pucek and Zbigniew Sobiecki, addresses a major challenge for API-centric companies: the slow and costly development of proof-of-concept (POS) applications for potential clients.
In SaaS sales, a POC is a small-scale prototype of the software used to showcase its functionality, features, and value before full development and deployment.
Customers can now sign up to a private onboarding waitlist.
Proofs has two locations, Francisco and Warsaw, operating with a team of software engineers and AI researchers. Moreover, both co-founders have a strong previous experience in the tech field.
Bartek is an angel investor who has invested alongside prominent firms such as Sequoia, a16z, and Y-Combinator in companies like the Polish-founded unicorn ElevenLabs, Zeta Labs, Ramp, and Wordware.
Zbigniew, on the other hand, has founded and served as CTO at several tech companies, including Lite E-commerce, one of Poland‘s largest e-commerce businesses. Together, they previously co-founded Forward Operators AI Lab, developing AI/ML-based services for clients such as Google, Decathlon, and Ten Square Games.
In Their Own Words
Bartek Pucek, cofounder and CEO at Proofs, said: “API-based companies spend millions of dollars each year on building proof-of-concept apps to convert their prospects. Still, 50-80% of all the leads churn in the pre-sales process. Engineering teams are overworked and understaffed, with limited resources, and it takes about six months for a new hire to bring value. API businesses simply don’t have the time and resources to build all the proof-of-concepts requested by prospects, so they end up leaving potential customers and money on the table.”
Investor’s Perspective
“We have seen a boom in software companies from Stripe to Twilio providing APIs to make their clients’ lives easier and more efficient. But no one has been building tools to make life easier for these API-first companies. Now, Proofs is tackling the biggest pain points faced by API-first companies in go-to-market by dramatically streamlining sales processes and integrations. We believe this solution has the potential to turn the way software is built and sold on its head, and we’re very excited to support Bartek, Zbigniew, and the team on their mission,” shared Mehmet Atici, partner at Earlybird Digital East Fund.
