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San Diego's Most Promising AI Startups

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San Diego's Most Promising AI Startups

Learn which companies are building technical infrastructure and developing tools.

Fred Grier
Aug 16, 2023
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San Diego's Most Promising AI Startups

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Learn from San Diego's top entrepreneurs and companies. Every week, I write a newsletter breaking down the business and money in San Diego. Join hundreds of tech professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors by subscribing below.


San Diego-based companies and early-stage startups focused on artificial intelligence (AI) have raised millions over the last few years.

The most recent includes the $120 million funding to SOCi who announced its fundraise to invest heavily in AI marketing tools in March.

While that is a small comparison to OpenAI’s $10 billion investment led by Microsoft, several San Diego founders are building promising AI companies and helping drive new capital, talent, and attention to the region.

Find out which AI startups have raised the most funding.


Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Tseng and Brandon Tseng, Co-Founder and President.

1. Shield AI

A startup which makes AI software for drones and other autonomous aircraft used by military and other government organizations.

Total funding raised: $573.1 million
Co-founders: Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng
Notable investors: Snowpoint Ventures, Riot Ventures, Disruptive, Homebrew, Point72 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Breyer Capital and SVB Capital.

Visit website here.


Brain Corp.’s AI software power self-driving robotic floor scrubbers used by Walmart and other large stores.

2. Brain Corp.

A startup which makes AI software that powers autonomous floor cleaning and inventory scanning.

Total funding raised: $161 million
Co-founders: Eugene Izhikevich and Allen Gruber
Notable investors: SoftBank, ClearBridge Investments, Satwik Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures.

Visit website here.


Gretel.ai protects data privacy and creates data sets that are still useful for developers to deliver better products and services.

3. Gretel AI

A startup that creates data to help train artificial-intelligence programs.

Total funding raised: $67.7 million
Co-founders: Ali Golshan, Alexander Watson, and John Myers
Notable investors: Anthos Capital, Section 32, Greylock, Moonshots Capital

Visit website here.


CEO Suman Kanuganti, CTO Sharon Zhang, and Head of Design Kristie Kaiser.

4. Personal AI

A startup developed a chatbot technology that allows you to collect, recall, and store personal information — forever.

Total funding raised: $8.4 million
Co-founders: Suman Kanuganti, Sharon Zhang, Kristie Kaiser
Notable investors: Differential VC, Supernode Global, Jane Street Capital, GoodFriends, Beni Venture Capital, Village Global, and BBG Ventures.

Visit website here.


Yembo uses AI technology to transform time-consuming tasks that come with moving to a new home into a fast and interactive experience.

5. Yembo

A startup that develops AI-powered camera app that can measure the size and weight of furniture and other items in a room.

Total funding raised: $12.9 million
Co-founders: Siddhartha Mohan and Zach Rattner
Notable investors: Imagen Capital Partners, Watson Foundation, and angel investors.

Visit website here.


CommSafe AI help organizations illuminate employee well-being and brand risk.

6. CommSafe AI

A startup that identifies toxic language in workplace emails and chat apps.

Total funding raised: $4 million
Founder: Ty Smith
Notable investors: TFX Capital,Gaingels, Crosscut, Blu Ventures and angel investors.

Visit website here.


ReflexAI co-founders aims to improve call effectiveness, caller satisfaction, average call length, agent retention, and more using AI.

7. ReflexAI

A startup that provides AI-powered training and quality assurance tools for call centers.

Total funding raised: $3.3 million
Co-founders: Sam Dorison and John Callery
Notable investors: Footwork Emerson Collective, Altman Capital, Gaingels and several individual backers.

Visit website here.



8. Ollie AI

A startup that is developing an AI shopping assistant to redefine how consumers shop online.

Total funding raised: Pre-seed
Co-founders: Bill Lennon, Matt Busigin, and Max Fergus
Notable investors: Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Madrona and Two Sigma Ventures

Visit website here.


Spun out of Analytics Ventures by Dave Ferrell, Diana Shapiro now leads as CEO.

8. Dynam AI

Data analytics service provider specializing in custom AI and machine learning solutions

Total funding raised: $4.2 million
Co-founders: Diana Shapiro and Dave Ferrell
Notable investors: Analytic Ventures and Ondas Holdings.

Visit website here.


WowYow co-founders Michael Ramirez, Adam Boskovich, Jarett Boskovich at Wowyow headquarters in San Diego.

9. WowYow

A startup applying advanced computer vision and technology to video.

Total funding raised: Pre-seed
Co-founders: Jarett Boskovich, Adam Boskovich, and Michael Ramirez
Notable investors: Launch Factory and angel investors.

Visit website here.


EyePop wants to equip every individual with the tools to leverage the power of computer vision in their unique pursuits.

10. EyePop AI

The startup offers a low-code platform with a streamlined process of analyzing, understanding, and utilizing visual data through artificial intelligence.

Total funding raised: Pre-seed
Co-founders: Andy Ballester, Brad Chisum, and Torsten Schulz
Notable investors: Angel investors.

Visit website here.


*This list was compiled leveraging Crunchbase’s data and independent research. Please note some numbers may be inaccurate and should not be used for investment purposes.

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San Diego's Most Promising AI Startups

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San Diego's Most Promising AI Startups

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John J D Munn
Writes Work Smart Wednesday
Aug 18

Personal AI has developed a chatbot technology that allows individuals to collect and recall personal information. Do you see this as a step towards greater productivity and efficiency in managing personal data? How might AI continue to reshape personal information management?

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