Tribe AI Secures Venture Capital to Meet Growing Demand After Six Years of Successful Bootstrapping

When Jaclyn Rice Nelson and Noah Gale founded Tribe AI, an AI talent and services company, in 2019, they faced the challenge of persuading organizations about the importance of having an AI strategy. However, following the release of ChatGPT in 2022, which sparked widespread interest in artificial intelligence, the startup has seen a significant surge in demand, as Gale shared.

Rice Nelson, Tribe's CEO, recalls her time as Growth VP at Alphabet's CapitalG, where she observed an unmistakable trend. Companies backed by the fund, including Stripe and Airbnb, increasingly sought Google's expertise in machine learning and data science.

Prior to the rise of generative AI, Google and Google Cloud had established reputations for their machine learning capabilities, exemplified by the widely-used TensorFlow framework. Gale noted a similar pattern during his tenure at Gigster, where emerging tech companies consistently turned to Google for support.

“These top-tier companies were reaching out to Google for assistance,” Rice Nelson explained. “It was incredibly challenging for any business—especially those outside Silicon Valley—to utilize these technologies without the resources of giants like Google or Amazon.”

Initially, Tribe AI was created to help companies recruit contract AI talent, but it has evolved into a comprehensive AI services firm. Today, Tribe leverages a network of over 500 contractors to deliver AI products and projects for clients. The company remains platform agnostic and collaborates with various cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google, as well as prominent language models like OpenAI and Anthropic. Notable clients include MyFitnessPal and New Relic.

While Tribe has chosen not to disclose specific revenue figures, Rice Nelson reports that the startup is on track for an eight-figure revenue run rate, which they expect to double this year. This growth is partly attributed to the flexibility of their contractor model, which minimizes payroll expenses.

Based in Brooklyn, Tribe AI has functioned as a bootstrapped company for the past six years but has recently secured a $3.25 million seed round led by Bryce Roberts, founding partner at Indie, a venture fund targeting early-stage companies. The funding also includes contributions from Tribe’s AI network, clients, and angel investors.

Since the arrival of generative AI, the demand shift has been dramatic. “The market pull we experienced wasn't only from customers but also from partners like Google, AWS, and Azure,” Rice Nelson noted. “OpenAI and Anthropic were inundated with requests and struggled to cope with the demand.”

This capital injection will enable Tribe to expand its workforce to meet the increasing demand and invest in the development of tools aimed at automating project aspects, enhancing operational efficiency.

Tribe AI is not alone in the pursuit of assisting businesses with their AI strategy. Rice Nelson identifies major consulting firms like McKinsey and Accenture as Tribe’s primary competitors. However, she believes Tribe stands out because it has been operational since 2019, well before ChatGPT's launch, and boasts extensive experience in delivering AI solutions.

“We've been in this space since 2019 and have successfully built hundreds of AI products,” Rice Nelson emphasized.