Generative AI Startup Typeface Now Worth $1 Billion Thanks to Salesforce, Google

Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence have led to an arms race, and venture capital firms are pouring billions into the industry, hoping to replicate the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. And San Francisco-based generative AI platform Typeface is one of the latest beneficiaries of the funding boom.

Typeface, which offers a generative AI creation platform targeted at enterprises, announced on Thursday the close of a $100 million Series B round led by Salesforce Ventures. Other backers include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Microsoft’s M12 venture fund.

With its latest raise, Typeface is valued at $1 billion. Typeface says the funds will go towards growth, innovation, and scaling its generative AI platform. In February, Lightspeed, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and M12 also contributed to a $65 million Series A funding for the AI startup.

Generative AI is a type of program, typically presented as a chatbot, capable of generating text, images, or other media in response to prompts.

Typeface was founded in June 2022 by former Meta, Adobe, and Microsoft designers and managers. In February, Typeface launched its public-facing business application integrating OpenAI’s GPT-4, Stable Diffusion, Google Vertex AI, and Microsoft Azure AI.

“By combining the strengths of generative AI platforms with our brand-specialized knowledge, we have eliminated the barriers for enterprises to harness generative AI,” Abhay Parasnis, founder and CEO at Typeface, said in a press release. “Typeface empowers every enterprise to create high-quality, personalized content that aligns with its unique voice.”

Earlier this month, global management consulting firm McKinsey released a report claiming that generative AI could become a multi-trillion-dollar industry thanks in part to its broad utility.

“Generative AI could add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually across the 63 use cases we analyzed,” the report said.

The McKinsey report said that 75% of the value of generative AI could fall across four key areas: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and research and development.

“Multidisciplinary venture capitalists are increasingly turning their attention to artificial intelligence investments, driven by the technology’s proven value to consumers,” Mysten Labs co-founder and CEO Evan Cheng told Decrypt in April, contrasting the explosion in AI funding interest with that of cryptocurrency since 2017.

Typeface did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.