Today, DeepHow announced a $9M pre-Series A fundraise. DeepHow is a Detroit-based startup founded by ex-Siemens executives who see a huge opportunity to use AI to accelerate skills training for shop-floor and other highly technical skilled trades workers.

News summary

• DeepHow has closed a pre-Series A round of $9M. This follows earlier seed funding totaling $4M. This round was oversubscribed.

• Sierra Ventures led the round, with participation by Osage Venture Partners and Qualcomm Ventures.

• DeepHow's system captures know-how and manual skills, then uses AI to convert this knowledge into smart, how-to training videos.

DeepHow helps manufacturers bridge a worrying skills gap  

• Three forces are undermining the performance of industrial enterprises in the manufacturing, service, and construction industries: 1) the rapid evolution of advanced technology in use on the factory floor; 2) an aging workforce; and 3) a shortage of skilled workers

• In particular, manufacturers are concerned that as their most valuable workers retire they will take with them years of acquired know-how and techniques that enable production lines to operate smoothly.

• How can they attract workers into these roles? How can they quickly upskill them and provide an attractive growth path to retain them? Training is part of the solution.

• DeepHow sees an enormous opportunity to equip manufacturers globally with advanced and proven technology to capture this valuable know-how, and then up-skill and re-skill the next generation of workers.

How does DeepHow disrupt the status quo?

• DeepHow combines the latest advances in AI, natural-language processing, computer vision, and knowledge mapping to revolutionize how knowledge is captured, digitized, and organized.

• DeepHow's secret sauce is AI Stephanie®, which analyzes a video of a skilled worker performing a complex task, identifies the steps involved, and then creates a step-by-step training video within minutes. Before AI Stephanie, this process could take many hours or even days and require professional video training.

• A manufacturer can instruct Stephanie to identify skills gaps across the workforce, assess workforce training needs given a range of scenarios, and then implement training strategies to ensure workforce readiness.

PR strategy and results

The media strategy employed pre-wire outreach (resulting in a CEO interview), followed by broader media outreach to secure additional stories.