The AI industry is rapidly introducing new models, prompting companies to adopt them in order to remain competitive. According to tech consulting firm Searce, nearly 10% of businesses are planning to spend a significant $25 million this year on AI initiatives.
However, despite the substantial investments in AI, many organizations are struggling to ascertain the return on investment. Gartner reports that half of all AI leaders are unsure how to calculate or demonstrate the value of AI projects.
Chetan Sharma, an ex-Airbnb data scientist and co-founder of Eppo, argues that determining AI ROI can be simplified with the right tools. Eppo offers an experimentation platform that allows customers to evaluate and customize AI models for specific use cases, in addition to providing a general A/B testing platform and service for apps and websites.
Eppo differentiates itself from other experimentation and A/B testing startups in the market by incorporating features like its “contextual bandit” system, which automatically identifies new variants and tests their performance by directing increasing load or traffic to them.
Eppo, which emerged from stealth mode in 2022, boasts “several hundred” enterprise clients including Twitch, SurveyMonkey, DraftKings, Coinbase, Descript, and Perplexity. Alexis Weill, head of data at Perplexity, commended Eppo for enabling them to scale the number of experiments they conduct concurrently.
The latest funding round for Eppo, a $28 million Series B led by Innovation Endeavors with participation from Icon Ventures, Amplify Partners, and Menlo Ventures, values the company at $138 million post-money and brings its total raised to $47.5 million. The additional funds will be utilized to enhance Eppo’s marketing and AI experimentation capacities, improve its analytics offerings, and expand its market presence.
Based in San Francisco, Eppo currently has 45 employees and anticipates ending the year with 65. Sharma emphasized the importance of experimentation in an AI-driven era and highlighted the shift towards utilizing platforms like Eppo to replace costly in-house builds for greater efficiency and adaptability.
