Highlight AI Inc., a startup with an artificial intelligence app designed to make knowledge workers more productive, has raised $40 million in funding. 

Khosla Ventures led the Series A round. Highlight stated in its funding announcement today that more than a half-dozen other investors contributed as well. Additionally, the company disclosed that it has appointed former Discord Inc. Vice President of Product Sergei Sorokin chief executive.

Highlight launched in 2024 as a spinoff from Medal Inc,. a startup with a program for recording video game footage. The company develops a desktop application that uses AI to help users analyze business data. Workers can upload complex files such as product diagrams and have Highlight generate a natural language explanation.

The software also speeds up other day-to-day tasks. One feature can automatically generate meeting notes, while another turns information scattered across multiple files into to-do items. An MCP tool enables users to sync data from Highlight to external applications.

Highlight is available in a free version and a paid edition, Highlight Premium, for $20 per month. The latter plan offers access to more advanced AI models from OpenAI Group PBC and other providers. Customers can use those advanced models to automate complex tasks and relegate simpler work to smaller, faster models that offer lower latency.

The company says its application has been adopted by more than 500,000 users since launch. Its installed base includes employees at Google LLC, Doordash Inc. and other major tech firms.

Highlight will use the proceeds from its funding round to significantly expand its feature set. According to the company, its engineers are working on a “unified team memory engine” that automates complex tasks involving multiple workers and applications. The software maker estimates that the tool can save up to several hours per task.

One use case is that Highlight’s memory engine promises to simplify project management. A design team working on a new website interface could use the tool to automatically assign tasks to each participating employee. Highlight determines which designer should do what by reviewing the interface being developed, relevant Slack discussions and other data assets. 

According to the company, its memory engine can also complete some tasks on its own. For example, designers could have Highlight generate the code necessary to turn an interface design into a functioning website. It performs such tasks by sending instructions to third-party automation tools such as the Cursor code editor.

“Without a shared memory across tools, people are forced to copy and paste between systems and track work by hand, spending countless hours reassembling work instead of moving it forward,” Sorokin said.

Highlight is currently testing its new AI features with a limited number of customers. A future update will enable users to deploy AI agents capable of automating a broader range of use cases. According to Highlight, its memory engine will enable those agents to complete tasks with the help of world models, neural networks optimized to generate three-dimensional virtual environments.

Image: Highlight