Sourcetable raises USD $4.3M for AI-driven spreadsheet

Sourcetable has introduced the world's first autonomous spreadsheet leveraging AI to automate analytical workflows and concluded a USD $4.3 million funding round.

The startup's new "self-driving" spreadsheet aims to make data analysis more accessible by utilising AI to perform tasks that typically require advanced spreadsheet knowledge.

With 750 million people using spreadsheets daily but only 20% able to apply basic functions like VLOOKUP or pivot tables, the room for increased data accessibility is vast.

This funding round was spearheaded by Bee Partners and included investors like Julien Chaumond of Hugging Face, Preston-Werner Ventures, MongoDB's Roger Bamford, and Magic Mind's James Beshara. The financial support is set to expedite Sourcetable's vision of democratizing data analysis.

Sourcetable's new platform offers autopilot functionality, allowing users to command spreadsheets using natural language via keyboard or voice-controlled "vibing" mode, a concept likened to vibe coding. This approach provides the AI with complete authority over write access and multi-step operation execution.

Eoin McMillan, CEO and Co-founder of Sourcetable, highlighted the transformative potential of AI in the sector, stating, "AI is the biggest platform shift since the browser, with a bigger opportunity for disruption."

"Sourcetable is building the AI spreadsheet for the next billion users, be they human or AI. As AI makes analysis easier, everybody will become an analyst. Sourcetable's AI automation ushers in a new era of productivity and human cognition."

The AI-integrated spreadsheet is equipped to handle an array of complex tasks, from financial modelling and generating spreadsheet templates to cleaning data and creating visualizations. It can grasp data context without user input to pre-select ranges, work with inconsistent data, and clarify instructions when necessary.

Co-founders Eoin McMillan and Andrew Grosser's backgrounds in machine learning and AI facilitated the development of features that surpass existing functionalities offered by Excel and Google Sheets.

Sourcetable's product is presented as the first with complete automation capabilities since Google Sheets introduced browser-based collaboration in 2006.

Initially targeting technical users such as data scientists, the Sourcetable team pivoted towards making high-functionality spreadsheets attainable to ordinary users. The integration of AI streamlined complex workflows, driving down user friction and increasing engagement.

Key to the system is its code-driven evaluation loop, ensuring the reliability of AI outputs, an essential factor for trusting multi-step automation.

Simar Singh, co-founder of Butternut AI, remarked, "In the future, it's obvious that humans won't be doing spreadsheet grunt work, and will defer to AI instead. We use Sourcetable to speed up our internal analytics workflows, and love the copy enrichment feature too. Big fans!"

Sourcetable's adaptability in choosing optimal AI models differentiates it from competitors tied to proprietary models. This flexibility allows rapid integration of advancements from AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, offering users access to state-of-the-art capabilities.

Michael Berolzheimer, Managing Partner at Bee Ventures, commented on the broader implications of the technology, "For decades, we've been stuck in a world with those who know Excel, and those who don't. Not anymore. Today's AI supercycle demands that all of our interfaces transform to become useful for both humans and machines, and they all demand a new data architecture. Eoin, Andrew, and the Sourcetable team have done it. Now anyone, human or agent, can benefit from accurate, reliable data analysis, underpinned by the all-important spreadsheet."

As Sourcetable expands, it aims to fully utilise AI agents and applications while supporting seamless agent interactions. With plans for broader data connectivity, Sourcetable is on a trajectory to alter how businesses interpret and work with data. Julien Chaumond of Hugging Face shared his optimism: "Spreadsheet apps are an Internet-native product I use every day in both my work and personal life, and I've for a long time wished that one could multiply their productivity with AI. So when I got the opportunity to invest in such a product in Sourcetable I was excited to do it."

Tom-Preston Werner from GitHub echoed the sentiment, stating, "AI is the biggest collaboration opportunity since Git. Once we understood Sourcetable's ambition and vision, we were eager to invest."

This round of investment is a signal of potent shifts on the horizon in spreadsheet and data technology.