Scout InsurTech Interview with AlignAI

AlignAI is an enterprise AI management platform that helps organizations operationalize artificial intelligence at scale. By streamlining collaboration between business, technical, and governance teams, AlignAI accelerates the path from idea to implementation while ensuring transparency and control. Chris Luiz spoke with the head of CX & Growth Nick Woo about how the company is impacting the industry.

Who are your clients?

Our licensed customers include Bread Financial, Worthington Steel, TriHealth, Geisinger Health Systems, and Andelyn Biosciences. We also have active pilots in the works with a growing list of banks and insurance carriers.  We began broad across financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare, and we are now narrowing our focus to regional banks and insurance carriers who are standing up or operating with an AI Center of Excellence.

What does your product do?

AlignAI acts as a product management and collaboration layer that accelerates delivery of valuable AI. Our platform connects people, process, and technology across the full AI lifecycle, from idea intake and business requirements to governance review, prioritization, and implementation. Our customers are reducing the overall lead time from nine to twelve months down to about 90 days, and we even integrate with systems like Jira, Archer, ServiceNow and SharePoint. 

How much capital have you raised?

We closed a $1.6 million seed round in August.

Was the company born from within or outside the insurance industry?

The founding team brings deep banking and insurance experience from their own careers. We did not incubate inside a carrier, so technically we were born outside. 

What growth metrics have you accomplished over the last 12 months?

In the past 12 months, we have seen zero churn, significant expansion in most customers, and high conversion from pilots to licenses.  We are very proud of this, and all due to the amazing AlignAI team and our deep partnership with our customers.  In Q4, we continue to add new customers and grow within existing accounts. 

Within your domain, what is the current challenge the industry is facing?

AI has become so much more operational and tied to near-term P&L impact, so enterprise leaders need a reliable funnel of vetted use cases and a clear path to value. Most organizations rely on spreadsheets, SharePoint, email, meetings, and partially connected tools, which slows approvals and obscures accountability. The result is long cycle times and stalled throughput, which really highlights the value of our platform. 

How does AlignAI take a unique approach to providing value?

We provide the coordination fabric for AI delivery. AlignAI captures business requirements up front, routes work through a configurable governance and prioritization process, connects to GRC and inventory systems, and creates a consistent review and approval workflow. That governance-by-design approach shortens time to value and scales throughput while improving traceability.

What inspired you to start the company?

We saw the operational pain first-hand inside large banks, insurers, and manufacturers. Our backgrounds in industrial and systems engineering, operations research, and data science made the problem very familiar. We bootstrapped for four years doing services inside enterprises to learn the patterns, then built the platform to fill the gap we did not see addressed.

Can you share any goals for the next 12 months?

Continue to focus on our industry verticals, with financial services as the lead and insurance as a close second. Show value, convert even more pilots, continue to expand within existing customers, and maintain zero churn. Our customers are incredibly important partners, and we have built strong relationships with each and every one over the years.  We aim to strengthen that connection and help them grow as we grow. 

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