Melbourne-based onboarding software startup Cor has secured a US$1.3 million pre-seed round to scale Obi, its generative video AI coach for software users. The platform is designed to help customers navigate complex products in real time, closing the gap between what software can do and what users actually learn to use. This first institutional raise follows a bootstrapped phase for the company and underlines growing investor conviction in AI-native customer onboarding tools.
Funding to scale AI onboarding coach
The pre-seed round was led by Australian venture firm Rampersand, with additional backing from Archangel, Skalata and Black Sheep Capital. Capital from the raise will be directed toward expanding Cor’s team, with a particular focus on sales, go-to-market execution and product growth. The goal is to support hyperscaling software companies that need to onboard large volumes of customers without proportionally expanding customer success headcount.
Solving the software adoption gap
Cor is targeting a well-documented problem in the software industry, where an estimated US$300–400 billion is spent on R&D each year while most new features remain underused. A widely cited 2019 white paper from software experience company Pendo found that around 56 percent of features were rarely used and 24 percent were never used at all. Cor’s founders argue that the core issue is not capability but adoption, and that onboarding needs to be rethought as a continuous, intelligent coaching experience rather than a one-off tutorial.
Inside Cor’s generative video agent
Obi uses generative video AI to appear as a live coach that joins users via a video-style call, sees what is on their screen and guides them step by step through product workflows. Unlike static help centers or text chatbots, it maintains context across multi-step processes, responds to questions in natural language and adapts to the user’s pace. Cor positions Obi as a product expert that can drop into a session at any moment of need, at any time of day, without requiring a human operator.
Founder and investor perspectives
Cor was founded by former Google executive Mantas Aleksiejevas and ex-Uptick CTO Luke Hodkinson, who both saw firsthand how difficult it was for software teams to onboard customers at scale. Aleksiejevas observed during his time with Google’s startup ecosystem that even strong products stalled internationally because users could not easily master them. He says Obi was created in response to the limitations of traditional AI assistants, which struggle to keep enough context to guide people through detailed, high-friction workflows.
Rethinking white-glove onboarding
Rampersand partner Andrew Poesaste argues that only top-tier enterprise accounts typically receive “white-glove” onboarding, while the long tail of customers are left to figure things out alone. In his view, Obi changes that model by delivering personalized, high-quality onboarding at scale so that even smaller customers can become proficient and eventually power users. He also points out that AI has accelerated product release cycles from quarterly to daily, and believes Obi helps software companies keep user education aligned with that rapid shipping pace while driving activation, retention and clearer return on investment.
Customer results in the field
Early adopters include Gold Coast-based virtual receptionist startup Sophiie AI and Sydney-headquartered site assessment prop-tech Canibuild, which both serve SMEs and the construction sector. Sophiie AI uses Obi to onboard non-technical users such as plumbers, electricians and small-business owners, reporting that the agent now manages hundreds of sessions each month and has been central to its rapid growth. Canibuild credits Obi with shifting its onboarding from fully manual to AI-led, noting that customers typically spend about 35 minutes learning the software at their own convenience while internal teams redirect time toward strategy and relationships.
Cor’s pre-seed raise highlights growing demand for AI-native tools that directly tackle the adoption problem surrounding modern software. By combining generative video, real-time screen awareness and continuous learning from every session, Obi aims to offer enterprises a scalable alternative to traditional, human-intensive onboarding models. If the startup can sustain its early traction and execute on its growth plans, it is positioned to influence how software companies across industries educate, enable and retain users throughout the entire customer lifecycle.