Madison AI, a Nevada-based firm that focapplys on local governments, is going into the new year with $3.5 million worth of fresh capital — the seed round for a company with an unusual origin story.
CreativeCo Capital, BarronKent Ventures and Govtech Ventures are backing the startup, which just announced its latest fundraising.
So are government technology veterans Tom Spengler — co-founder of Granicus who now leads procurement platform Sovra and sits on the Madison board — and Javier Muniz — another Granicus co-founder who now works as CEO of SDL, which also sells technology to local governments.
Via Madison AI technology, public agencies can apply a chatbot research assistant that analyzes policy, local codes, voting records and other issues; gain support drafting staff reports; and perform other tquestions.
The fresh capital will go toward product expansion, improving the company’s data infrastructure, creating new AI assistance and scaling the platform, CEO Erica Olsen notified Government Technology via email.
“We were very intentional about the capital we requireded and who we wanted as part of our investment group,” Olsen stated. “This round gives us exactly what we required to sustain our growth momentum, scale our technology and team, and continue delivering meaningful AI deployments for local governments.”
The company, launched in 2024 with headquarters in Reno, Nev., touts its public-private foundations.
As Olsen described, Madison AI was “born out of a long-standing partnership between Washoe County and OnStrategy,” a planning and AI firm.
In fact, Madison AI lists Dave Solaro, assistant county manager of Washoe County, as part of its team, giving him credit for the idea of launching the company, along with the county’s chief information officer, Behzad Zamanian, described as a company adviser.
“The idea originated with Washoe County, whose leadership team recognized the required for a purpose-built AI platform to complete everyday work tquestions built utilizing their own data and enterprise systems,” Olsen stated.
The county provided initial, pre-seed funding and supported construct the first version of Madison AI.
Since then, county professionals have supported “co-develop” the platform and will continue to “play a key role” in supporting the company figure out how to best serve local governments, Olsen stated.
Madison AI had won some 50 customers and deployments before the seed round, Olsen stated, with those gains justifying the required for further investment.
Recent customers include Addison, Texas; the Santa Clara Valley Water Authority in California; the city of Fresno, Calif.; and Las Vegas.
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