After changing its name and landing fresh cash from previous backers, a Seattle startup is ready to grow its software platform that aims to help sales reps with their meetings.
Meetingflow, previously known as Panda.AI, recently raised $760,000 from previous backers PSL Ventures, AI2 Incubator and Ascend. The fresh cash comes as the company shifts gears to target sales and customer service teams.
The Seattle startup is led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder. He previously co-founded EnergySavvy, which helped utilities manage relationships with customers. Uplight acquired the company in 2019.
A year later, Goldfeder teamed up with software engineering vet Yue Ning to launch Panda.AI out of the AI2 Incubator at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. He described the original concept as a “cross-app search and AI platform for account collaboration and meeting prep.”
The startup raised $3.3 million in 2020 but was slow to take off, Goldfeder said.
“We had sales and good market reception but didn’t see the user adoption we needed to justify further investment,” he said.
After conducting market research, Goldfeder found many companies had “terrible processes” when it came to client meetings, including disorganized preparation, scattered notes, inadequate follow-ups, slow collaboration, and issues with CRM systems.
“That seemed wild, given they spend a fortune on sales and marketing,” Goldfeder said.
This revelation inspired Panda’s pivot to Meetingflow, a platform that syncs with calendars and customer-relationship management (CRM) services. The startup uses OpenAI’s GPT, which helps automate parts of the client call process, including drafting agendas, jotting notes, deriving insights, and sending follow-up emails. Users can also collaborate on single dashboards.
The idea is to help companies have more efficient and effective client calls, automating tasks before, during and after meetings, Goldfeder said. It consolidates data to keeps information organized.
Meetingflow offers free access for teams of up to five people, with pricing starting at $18 for teams of up to 20 members and $39 for teams of 100 members. Prices vary for larger enterprise offerings.
Seattle companies like LevelTen Energy and Tignis are customers. The company did not reveal total revenue or user count.
In the sales tech market, Meetingflow competes with giants like Salesforce and Microsoft, along with established startups such as Salesloft, Outreach, Gong, and Highspot.
Other AI companies are developing tools to automate note-taking tasks during meetings. For example, AI2 spinout Augment briefs video call participants, transcribes and summarizes conversations, and extracts follow-up items.
Meetingflow is unlike other sales platforms because it helps customers in every stage of the client interaction process, as well as making AI a core part of the product, Goldfeder said.
A Gartner study forecasts a 50% increase in budgets for sales tech by 2027, fueling future demand for startups targeting enterprise revenue teams.
The market has faced challenges amid the economic downturn, leading to reduced software spending. Seattle sales tech startups like Highspot and Outreach have laid off employees in recent months.
“There’s consolidation, pre-IPO companies trying to get profitable, and, at the same time, a disruptive AI wave,” Goldfeder said. “That presents both opportunity and challenge as we grow around our core use cases and customer focus.”
Ning left Panda in May 2022 and later joined Typeface, a San Francisco-based startup that sells an AI generator for content marketing.
Meetingflow’s founding team includes UX designer Jeffrey Croft; Software Engineer Kyle Wilcox; Product Architect Rich Evans; and VP of Customer Experience Tyler Putterman. The startup has seven employees and total funding to date is $4 million.
