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Investors globally are racing to pour money into white-hot AI space, with Build Club joining the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Anthropic and Hugging Face in benefiting from rampant interest. OpenAI raised $US6.6 billion ($9.8 billion) last week and is now valued at $US157 billion.
“It’s adapt or die when it comes to AI adoption, and this is particularly true for SMEs, who are currently underserved by existing platforms and desperate for a solution that enables them to keep pace with the transformation their industries are undergoing,” Elicia McDonald, partner at Build Club investor Airtree, said.
AirTree Ventures partner Elicia McDonald.Credit: SMH
“Annie and the Build Club team have already proven their ability to execute and build a thriving community, putting them in pole position to own the education and credentialing of the next generation of AI builders.”
Other early investors include Archangel Ventures, Co Ventures and Treble VC, alongside angel investors such as Curious Thing AI founder Sam Zheng, early WhatsApp employee Julia Wells, Superpower founder Max Marchione and the Startmate Small Bets Fund.
Annie Liao is the founder of Build Club. “The demand for AI solutions is outpacing the speed at which employees have been able to reskill, making it mission critical for companies to find a practical solution to stay competitive.”Credit: SMH
“Annie has proven time and again she has a rare ability to magnetise community members, build a movement, and bring people along with her,” Blackbird entrepreneur-in-resident David Booth said.
“We’ve seen a number of great founders and builders join, find their people, and thrive. As her vision evolved into an education product and gig marketplace we were eager to get in and support.”
Jessy Wu was one of Build Club’s first customers, through her strategic communications agency, Encour.
“I used Build Club to build a custom tool for internal use. I wanted to create a custom GPT that can take the ‘master version’ of a press announcement and create short variants of press releases that are tailored to specific publications and what their audiences are interested in,” she said.
“I posted my specifications as a ‘bounty’ on Build Club and was quickly matched with a very capable builder – Ethan.”
Liao said that building Build Club as a solo founder had been challenging, but had been a process “all about betting on myself and aiming for something big.”
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