There is a new contender in the startup race to challenge Microsoft Excel’s stranglehold on the world of spreadsheets.
San Francisco-based Paradigm said Monday it’s launching its artificial intelligence-powered spreadsheet platform with $5 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst. Its software was designed with AI from the outset, making more seamless use of the advanced technology than legacy companies that have instead tacked it onto existing products, the startup said.
This year through mid-August, venture investors committed roughly $92 billion to U.S. future of work and business productivity startups, eclipsing 2024’s full-year total of $70 billion and a 142% jump over 2023’s funding haul, according to research firm PitchBook Data. The data, while it captures funding for developing spreadsheet technology, also covers a broader segment of workplace tech tools.
Paradigm’s coming out ratchets up a fierce battle among startups brandishing AI to unseat Excel. Venture investors have been pumping capital into these upstarts developing AI-infused spreadsheet platforms and workplace-productivity tools.
“There’s a lot of anticipation around the space because there are a lot of players, many with slightly different approaches,” said Anna Monaco, the 23-year-old founder and CEO of Paradigm. “There’s not one that’s clearly ahead, so there’s that anticipation around who will win because it’s a massive market.”
To be sure, Microsoft has been supercharging its own spreadsheet program with AI. Last year, the tech giant said its AI Copilot tool had been integrated into Excel, helping users manipulate data and highlight key insights, like financial red flags.
Earlier this month, Fundamental Research Labs, another startup developing an AI-equipped spreadsheet platform, said it raised a roughly $33 million Series A led by Prosus. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup, born out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also tapped investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Eric Schmidt’s First Spark Ventures.
Paradigm said its spreadsheet is available starting at $20 a month. Its AI can help users upload, organize, manipulate and analyze reams of data and streamline data-cleaning, typically a laborious job that requires users to format data sets.
Paradigm’s technology is powered by models including OpenAI’s recently launched GPT-5, the startup said.
Users can pay a higher price for more powerful models or opt for a usage-based fee for large jobs. Paradigm’s customers include consulting firms, banks and technology companies, the firm said.
General Catalyst partner Max Rimpel said recent advancements in AI have raised the bar for what’s possible using spreadsheets, and Paradigm’s ability to make working with numbers more natural for users was attractive. “ChatGPT proved what’s possible,” he said. “Paradigm shows that spreadsheets are a powerful and versatile AI interface, suited to a host of tasks.”
Last year, Paradigm raised $2 million in pre-seed funding from Y Combinator, Failup Ventures and others.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-race-to-dethrone-excel-has-a-new-entrant-2b3ed40b
