Franchising is a strong development technique for companies searching for speedy growth with out bearing the total burden of capital funding and operational prices. Nevertheless, managing franchises comes with complicated challenges that demand a fragile steadiness between management and suppleness. Harmonyze permits franchisors to function profitable franchise networks with AI brokers. The platform automates and centralizes each authorized and operational compliance and monitoring and reporting, whereas facilitating coordinated expertise deployment throughout the franchise community, permitting for speedy experimentation. For quickly scaling franchisors, sustaining model consistency and high quality throughout a number of areas is essential. Harmonyze helps guarantee clients have a constant expertise aligned with model requirements. By automating operational duties throughout the franchise community, the platform not solely generates value financial savings for each franchisors and franchisees but in addition frees up franchisors to deal with strategic, revenue-generating initiatives.
AlleyWatch caught up with Harmonyze CEO and Cofounder Gary Liskovich to study extra in regards to the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, latest spherical of funding, and far, far more…
Who have been your buyers and the way a lot did you increase?
Harmonyze profitable closed greater than $2M in pre-seed funding. The spherical was led by Bowery Capital, with significant participation from Focal.VC, in addition to particular person buyers that embody CXOs at franchisors, AI firms, and personal fairness companies.
Inform us in regards to the services or products that Harmonyze affords.
Harmonyze makes it simpler for franchisors to run distinctive and worthwhile companies. Utilizing AI brokers, Harmonyze automates operational and compliance duties, centralizes network-wide monitoring and reporting, and allows speedy two-way innovation between franchisor and franchisee. This modern resolution not solely drives down prices for franchisors, but in addition frees up their groups to deal with strategic, revenue-generating actions, finally enhancing margins.
What impressed the beginning of Harmonyze?
My cofounder, Jonny Greenspan, and I grew up in Brooklyn collectively, the place Jonny’s dad was a franchisee. We didn’t understand it on the time, however this expertise began to form our information of the franchise {industry}, which might ultimately encourage Harmonyze. After Jonny and I graduated school and independently labored at quite a few expertise startups, we began to mess around with constructing AI for authorized and compliance-related issues. As we analyzed which industries would profit most from this resolution, we remembered Jonny’s dad’s franchising expertise. Scaled franchise networks are extremely complicated and generate a powerful quantity of unstructured information — the proper surroundings for AI to unlock worth. Over the previous yr we’ve carried out intensive discovery with franchisors and the response and preliminary industrial traction has been overwhelmingly thrilling.
How is Harmonyze totally different?
Harmonyze is an AI-first firm led by skilled technologists and purpose-built for franchisors’ operations, from coordinating compliance duties to staying on prime of varied rules. Our AI brokers interpret the huge quantities of unstructured information that circulation by means of franchise networks after which automate 1000’s of in any other case guide processes. After creating an in depth understanding of a franchisor’s enterprise (Edible Preparations is sort of totally different than the UPS Retailer franchise, for instance), we deploy the fitting set of AI brokers to a safe, personal cloud. Right here, these brokers full and coordinate duties between one another by way of a proprietary framework we developed particularly to mirror the best way data is handed all through franchise programs.
What market does Harmonyze goal and the way large is it?
Harmonyze is purpose-built for franchisors — a significant sector of the financial system, however one which has lengthy been underserved by expertise startups. Populars manufacturers like Orange Concept, ACE {Hardware}, the UPS Retailer, and nearly each fast service restaurant function franchise fashions. By 2028, the franchise market is forecasted to succeed in roughly $5 trillion globally, representing a ten.41% CAGR from 2023 to 2028. The operations leaders that run these franchise networks are charged with coordinating 1000’s of duties throughout numerous areas, typically on the expense of vital strategic work that elevates the model. Harmonyze’s AI is purpose-built for franchisors, and helps them considerably streamline and simplify the complexities of operating profitable companies.
What’s your online business mannequin?
Harmonzye is a subscription mannequin with pricing dependent upon the scale of a franchisor’s community.
How are you making ready for a possible financial slowdown?
The franchise {industry} is powerful and rising quickly all over the world. An financial slowdown, nevertheless, would pressure franchisors to do much more to help their franchisees, additional burdening their groups consequently. Harmonyze is thoughtfully designed to automate 1000’s of in any other case guide duties, saving prices whereas releasing up groups to deal with the varieties of strategic, revenue-generating actions which are particularly important throughout difficult durations.
What was the funding course of like?
We have been very organized in our fundraising method, which resulted in a simple and fast course of total. I consider a part of our success was how we framed the franchisor-specific drawback after which defined why skilled technologists, versus industry-specific veterans, have been the most effective to resolve it utilizing AI.
What are the largest challenges that you simply confronted whereas elevating capital?
Whereas everybody, together with VCs, store from and luxuriate in franchise companies on a weekly, if not day by day, foundation, there’s not a deep understanding of their distinctive complexities. We needed to do loads of educating in the course of the fundraising course of to beat this. Nevertheless, this additionally gave us an ideal alternative to display simply how effectively we understood the issue we have been fixing, which each VC desires to see. As an early-stage firm, we have been additionally constructing merchandise and onboarding new purchasers as we have been fundraising — doing each concurrently was difficult. Lastly, many VC groups are extremely distributed in the present day, which meant digital conferences have been the norm. Video calls have their advantages, however it’s not all the time simple to do a considerate chemistry examine just about. It was actually vital that we labored with the fitting buyers that may help us and our development, so we have been finally thrilled to companion with Bowery Capital and Focal.VC.
What elements about your online business led your buyers to jot down the examine?
As soon as buyers understood the complexities of the franchise {industry} and the way massive this sector of the financial system is, they have been energized by the chance for innovation. My co-founder and I are each extremely technical and have a confirmed monitor document of constructing AI merchandise for enterprise clients, which instilled confidence within the buyers that we have been the fitting leaders to deal with this problem. And at last, Jonny and I benefited from being finest mates since center faculty — we have been in lock-step all through the whole course of.
As soon as buyers understood the complexities of the franchise {industry} and the way massive this sector of the financial system is, they have been energized by the chance for innovation. My co-founder and I are each extremely technical and have a confirmed monitor document of constructing AI merchandise for enterprise clients, which instilled confidence within the buyers that we have been the fitting leaders to deal with this problem. And at last, Jonny and I benefited from being finest mates since center faculty — we have been in lock-step all through the whole course of.
What are the milestones you propose to realize within the subsequent six months?
With our pre-seed spherical closed, we’re laser-focused on increasing the variety of franchisors we work with and deploying an order of magnitude extra AI brokers that clear up their issues.
What recommendation are you able to provide firms in New York that don’t have a recent injection of capital within the financial institution?
Make investments the useful resource you do have — your time — in buyer discovery and striving for excellence. This prices nothing and can return dividends by shaping a helpful product and sharpening your pitch to buyers.
The place do you see the corporate going within the close to time period?
Our focus is on working intently with extra enterprise design companions and ambitiously creating new AI brokers that clear up their most urgent challenges. To help these targets, we’ll proceed to develop our staff with a deal with engineering and industrial roles.
What’s your favourite summer season vacation spot in and across the metropolis?
Each Jonny and I grew up in South Brooklyn, so we love Coney Island! We extremely suggest stopping by Tottono’s Pizzeria and Nathan’s once you’re within the neighborhood.
