A $10m pre-seed round to build a metaverse company might sound like a very 2021 bit of startup news. That is unless you throw the term “AI” into the mix.
Warsaw-based CampusAI is announcing it’s raised exactly that from angel investor Maciej Zientara, to build a virtual campus for AI training.
“We have the ambition to build the world’s largest generative development platform that will redefine how people and businesses use AI,” says Aureliusz Górski, the company’s CEO and cofounder who says he’s hoping to expand the company to 10 new markets this year.
What is CampusAI?
Founded in 2023, CampusAI says it’s building a platform which helps people and businesses use AI in a better, more effective way.
The stakes are high: 70% of CEOs worldwide say they expect that generative AI will change how their companies operate in the next three years, according to a report from audit and consulting firm PwC. But many of those CEOs, according to the research, are not AI experts, and many are unsure about the best way to upskill their workforce.
This is where CampusAI steps in. For a yearly or lifetime fee, its users can access a virtual world where their avatars can take classes, attend meetings and build communities — often in buildings that are the digital twins of real-life institutions, such as the Koźmiński University, a Polish business school.
The teaser experience that the company has released on its website looks a lot like a computer game (the startup uses gaming software engines developed to visualise its interactive content) and users can set up their learning path based on their level of experience.
“My mother and an IT expert can both take the course — and they will both be happy,” says Górski. “Our mission is to empower every user with the tools and knowledge needed to navigate and thrive in an AI-driven world.”
Every user has to go through a course on GenAI’s impact on society. Later, they can choose to learn about various GenAI models and other tools.
“CampusAI is much more than e-learning,” he adds. “It's an ecosystem that combines education, community, and practical applications of AI”.
He stresses the project is innovative not only technologically but also “socially,” and that he hopes new AI companies will be built on the platform from scratch as part of a forthcoming startup accelerator programme that Campus is preparing to launch.
The startup’s e-learning experience is informed by academic research. Aleksandra Przegalińska, one of Poland’s top AI scholars who’s also a senior research associate at Harvard, is one of the company’s advisors — and also the first “professor-avatar” on the platform.
The startup employs 30 people and plans to use the fresh funding to develop its platform and fund expansion into English and Spanish-speaking markets this year.
