American startup raised $7.9 million for human evaluation of AI

Funding and development of the Intelligence startup

According to НВ — Техно: The American startup Intelligence, which developed the Design Arena platform for evaluating the performance of artificial intelligence models by humans, raised $7.9 million in a seed funding round. The Design Arena service is used by 5.3 million people, and the annual recurring revenue of the platform is about $60 million. The company was founded in 2025 by a group of students led by Grace Lee.

The Design Arena platform operates on a comparison principle, where users can choose the best result generated by artificial intelligence. This allows for human evaluation of the performance of models, which is an important factor for many companies working in the field of generative artificial intelligence.

“Many companies working on generative AI have been missing this kind of tool,” Grace Lee noted.

Platform users gain access to results only after logging into their account. Intelligence has received support from investors such as Index Ventures, Conviction, A*, Valkyrie, and other funds, indicating investor interest in the development of artificial intelligence technologies.

Market competition

It is worth noting that the startup competitor Yupp, which also collected human evaluations for AI models, ceased operations this year, despite having previously raised $33 million in investments. At the same time, the platform LM Arena recently raised $150 million during a Series A funding round, indicating market activity in this sector.

Grace Lee also stressed that “in Asia, web interfaces often have a richer design,” which may impact the further development of their platform and competitiveness. Intelligence continues to work on improving Design Arena, hoping for growth in user numbers and revenue in the future.

The funding raised in the early stages of the startup's development underscores the growing interest of investors in artificial intelligence technologies and the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of AI models through human perception. Market competition remains high, which may encourage startups to innovate and improve their products. The cessation of operations by competitors like Yupp also highlights the challenges companies face in this field, emphasizing the importance of adaptation and the development of new strategies to ensure success.