Eightfold co-founders raise $35M for Viven, an AI digital twin startup for querying unavailable coworkers

In the modern workplace, effective communication is crucial, yet often hindered by the unavailability of key team members. Whether on vacation or located in different time zones, the absence of colleagues with essential knowledge can stall project progress. Recognizing this challenge, Ashutosh Garg and Varun Kacholia, co-founders of Eightfold — a prominent AI recruitment company valued at $2.1 billion — are pioneering a solution through their new venture, Viven. Unveiling its operations with a remarkable $35 million in seed funding from investors including Khosla Ventures and Foundation Capital, Viven aims to address the issue of inaccessible information. The startup utilizes advancements in large language models (LLMs) and data privacy technology to create digital twins for each employee. These digital counterparts draw from internal documents such as emails, Slack messages, and Google Docs, allowing co-workers to query them for immediate answers, even in the absence of the original person. "When each and every person has a digital twin, you can just talk to their twin as if you’re talking to that person and get the response," Garg explained to TechCrunch. However, the innovation faces significant challenges, particularly concerning the sensitive nature of workplace information. Employees are often privy to confidential data and personal files, which they may not want to share broadly. Viven addresses these privacy concerns through a technique called pairwise context and privacy. This allows the LLMs to discern what information can be shared and with whom. The technology is designed to respect personal boundaries, recognizing when inquiries pertain to an employee’s private life. Additionally, employees can monitor the query history of their digital twin, providing transparency and discouraging inappropriate questions. "It’s a very hard problem to solve, and until recently, it was unsolvable," noted Ashu Garg, a general partner at Foundation Capital. Currently, several enterprises, including Genpact and Eightfold, are already utilizing Viven’s innovative approach. Despite the absence of direct competition in the digital twin space, Ashutosh Garg remains vigilant, having consulted with investor Vinod Khosla, who confirmed that no similar solutions were in development. While Garg acknowledges that companies like Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft have products with elements of personalization, Viven is poised to establish itself as a leader in this niche by leveraging its unique pairwise context technology as a competitive advantage. The future looks promising as Viven aims to enhance workplace communication and collaboration through AI-driven digital twins.