Aidan Gomez-backed startup still unsure if it will follow Cohere CEO’s advice on remaining in Canada.
Anthony Azrak and Jai Mansukhani know how to capitalize on coincidences.
When they found themselves in the same Next Canada accelerator, they decided to build OpenSesame, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup. When they co-hosted a hackathon with AI company Cohere, they secured an angel cheque from CEO Aidan Gomez by slipping a handwritten Christmas card into a custom hockey jersey.
When the co-founders met a partner from venture capital (VC) firm Andreessen Horowitz at New York Tech Week, they asked whether they’d be a good fit for its selective accelerator program, a16z speedrun. They nabbed a spot without ever sending a formal application.
“We found that speedrun almost [has] the spirit of the old days of YC.”
Anthony Azrak
OpenSesame says it was the only Canadian company selected for the upcoming speedrun cohort, which accepted roughly 50 companies out of more than 10,000 applicants. Admittance to the 12-week program comes with $1 million USD ($1.36 million CAD) in equity, access to millions of dollars in credits for software and AI tools, and hands-on mentorship and networking with one of the world’s most prominent venture firms.
The Toronto-based startup, which was founded just over a year ago, helps companies add and manage agentic AI capabilities in their software products using natural-language prompts. AI agents can take action autonomously on behalf of human users.
“Our eventual goal is to be the Canva for AI interfaces,” Mansukhani told BetaKit. “A simple, beautiful way to embed natural language into any product, without teams spending hours to rewire the infrastructure.”
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Mansukhani and Azrak believe that messaging and speaking with AI interfaces will be the main way people perform work tasks in the future. The co-founders said their product is built on top of several commercially available large-language models.
OpenSesame is playing in an increasingly saturated market of “AI-as-a-service” startups, but has narrowed its initial focus to companies using older software, such as in the construction and insurance industries. The company says it has secured a dozen clients so far.
OpenSesame claims it can quickly and cheaply integrate with a client’s internal tech stack and customer offerings, addressing a pain point for enterprises. According to a recent report from venture firm Georgian Partners, about 48 percent of Canadian executives said an absence of technical talent was impeding AI adoption at their companies. The high costs of AI model training and deployment are also barriers.
The four-person team hopes to make the most of the small cohort at a16z, which stands in contrast to the acclaimed Y Combinator’s (YC) more recent batches, which have included between 100 and 275 companies.
“We found that speedrun almost [has] the spirit of the old days of YC,” Azrak said.
OpenSesame plans to continue fundraising for its seed round after the accelerator’s demo day. In addition to Gomez’s investment, the team has also secured investments from executives at marketing startup Braze, New York-based Comma Capital, and BDC Capital Seed Fund principal Daniel Nieto.
The potential of moving to the US looms large for Azrak and Mansukhani, who said that OpenSesame’s future headquarters may depend on the interest they receive from US VCs. When Cohere’s Gomez urged Canadian founders to reject term sheets requiring reincorporation in the United States at Toronto Tech Week, the co-founders told BetaKit he was referencing a conversation they’d had with him.
Conditions in Canada’s fundraising ecosystem have been difficult for both founders and VCs raising funds, as they contend with weak fund returns and a cool exit market. Data also indicates that many Canadian companies that go through US accelerators do not return, such as Revyl and Opennote.
Improving Canada’s VC ecosystem, in Azrak’s opinion, would require a more favourable environment for limited partners (LPs) and a huge injection of capital. Despite the funding difficulties, he said, Canada remains a critical source of tech talent, no matter where OpenSesame ends up.
“We’re in this limbo where ideally we would like to stay in Canada,” Azrak said. “At the same time, if this fundraising thing is going to stop us from growing out our vision, then it’s a real conversation that we need to have.”
Feature image courtesy OpenSesame.