We only take on 4 clients per month. Join our August cohort. 1 spot left.
Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Daniele Grassi, CEO at Axyon AI, an AI platform for financial markets that has raised $5.5 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Early Passion for AI and Finance: Daniele’s journey into the intersection of AI and finance began early, with him programming a stock market simulation at just eight years old. This early interest led him to pursue software engineering and eventually to the founding of Axyon AI.
- Specialization in Financial AI: Unlike broad AI applications, Axyon AI focuses on the specific challenges of applying deep learning and advanced machine learning techniques to financial time series, aiming to optimize financial market predictions without typical pitfalls like overfitting.
- Building a Startup in Modena: Known for high-performance automotive brands like Ferrari and Maserati, Modena, Italy, provided a surprisingly rich environment for AI development, with a strong engineering focus spurred by local industry demands.
- Challenges of Early AI Adoption: In the early days, Daniele faced significant challenges explaining what AI is and convincing stakeholders of its potential, especially following the disillusionment from the previous AI hype cycles.
- Impact of Generative AI on Perception: The release of more advanced AI models like ChatGPT significantly changed public perception and acceptance of AI, easing some earlier challenges Axyon faced in market education and acceptance.
- Vision for AI in Investment Strategies: Looking forward, Daniele sees AI becoming an indispensable component of investment strategies, not just for gaining an edge but as a fundamental necessity to compete effectively in financial markets.
Actionable
Takeaways
Focus on Specialization to Stand Out:
Daniele emphasized the importance of specializing in a niche area, like Axyon AI has done with AI for financial markets. This specialization not only differentiates a business from competitors but also builds deeper expertise that can be more compelling to potential clients within that niche.
Build a Strong Technological Foundation:
In AI and other tech-centric fields, having a solid technological and scientific foundation is crucial. This rigor helps in building trust, especially in industries like finance where the stakes are high and the margin for error is low.
Leverage Local Ecosystems for Global Impact:
Axyon AI's decision to base operations in Modena, an area with a strong engineering heritage due to its automotive industry, highlights the advantage of tapping into local expertise and infrastructure, even for a seemingly unrelated field like AI.
Educate Your Market:
Daniele faced initial challenges in educating potential users and investors about AI's capabilities and benefits. Startups should invest in educating their target market, particularly when introducing innovative or disruptive technologies.
Use High-Profile Advisors to Gain Credibility:
Engaging with well-known advisors or securing investments from respected figures can lend credibility and facilitate easier entry into tightly-knit industry circles, as Daniele's experience with Axyon AI shows.
Recommended Founder
Interviews
Davit Baghdasaryan
Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp
Davit Baghdasaryan, Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp: $19 Million Raised to Build the Voice Productivity Category
Joe Witt
CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo
Joe Witt, CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo: $21 Million Raised to Unlock the Potential of Unstructured Data for AI
Jonathan Schneider
CEO and Co-Founder of Moderne
Jonathan Schneider, CEO & Co-Founder of Moderne: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Code Remediation
Ravin Thambapillai
CEO and Co-Founder of Credal
Ravin Thambapillai, CEO and Co-Founder of Credal: $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Security
Deon Nicholas
CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought
Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought: $92 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Support with AI
Meryem Arik
CEO & Co-Founder of Titan ML
Meryem Arik, CEO and Co-Founder of Titan ML: $2.8 Million Raised to Revolutionize LLM Deployment
Phillip Liu
CEO of Trustero
Phillip Liu, CEO of Trustero: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Compliance AI
Gabriel Bayomi Tinoco Kalejaiye
CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer
Gabriel Bayomi, CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer: $4.8 Million Raised to Power the Future of Machine Learning Testing
Jonathan Dambrot
CEO and Founder of Cranium
Jonathan Dambrot, CEO and Founder at Cranium: $32 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI Security
Douwe Kiela
CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI
Douwe Kiela, CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Enterprise Language Models
Anand Kulkarni
CEO of Crowdbotics
Anand Kulkarni, CEO of Crowdbotics: $58 Million Raised to Power the Future of Rapid Application Development
Jason Corso
Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51
Jason Corso, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51: $15.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Developer Tools for Machine Learning
Patricia Thaine
Co-Founder & CEO of Private AI
Patricia Thaine, Co-Founder & CEO of Private AI: Over $11 Million Raised to Help Organizations Anonymize PII to Achieve Regulatory Compliance
Nikola Borisov
CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra
Nikola Borisov, CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Model Hosting
Bob van Luijt
CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate
Bob van Luijt, CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate: Over $67 Million Raised to Power the Future of Vector Databases
Richard Potter
Co-Founder and CEO of Peak
Richard Potter, Co-Founder and CEO at Peak: $118 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI-Enabled Businesses
Malte Pietsch
CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset
Malte Pietsch, CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset: $45 Million Raised to Build the Future of LLMs
Ryan Sevey
CEO of Mantium
Ryan Sevey, CEO of Mantium: $12 Million Raised to Help Teams Deploy and Monitor their AI Process Automations
Johannes Peeters
Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors
Johannes Peeters, Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Spatial Computing
Roger Luo
Founder & Managing Partner of Embedding VC
Funding the Future: Roger Luo, Managing Partner at Embedding VC
Jeong-Suh Choi
CEO of Bobidi
Jeong-Suh Choi, CEO Bobidi: Nearly $6 Million raised to Deliver Better, More Inclusive AI Solutions for Developers
Rich Taylor
Vice President of Seek AI
Rich Taylor, VP of Marketing at Seek AI: $10.5 Million Raised to Transform Data Analysis with Generative AI
Anand Gopalan
CEO and Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics
Anand Gopalan, CEO & Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics: $12.7 Million Raised to Build the Next Wave of Robotics Solutions
Jorge Penalva
CEO & Co-Founder of Lang AI
Jorge Penalva, CEO of Lang.ai: $40 Million+ Raised to Build the Customer Experience Operations Category
Jorge Torres
CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB
Jorge Torres, CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB: $50 Million Raised to Enable Developers to Integrate Machine Learning into Applications
Alex Sambvani
CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI
Alex Sambvani, CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Voice AI for Restaurants
Harry Xu
CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML
Harry Xu, CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML: $4.6 Million Raised to Create the Future of AI Governance
Tom Trowbridge
Co-Founder of Fluence Labs
Tom Trowbridge, co-founder of Fluence Labs: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Decentralized P2P Computing
Ashley Montanaro
CEO and Co-Founder of Phasecraft
Ashley Montanaro, CEO & Co-Founder of Phasecraft: $22 Million Raised to Build the Future of Quantum Software
Alan Cowen
CEO and Founder of Hume AI
Alan Cowen, CEO and Founder of Hume AI: Over $17 Million Raised to Measure and Improve How Technology Affects Human Emotion