A Bristol company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create convincing automated handwritten letters has secured £25,000 of seed funding.
Scribeless, which was founded by Bristol University graduates Robert Van Den Bergh and Alex Robinson in 2018, scooped one of the two top prizes at the Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards 2019.
The duo, both 23, beat off competition from over 2,000 businesses to win the funding.
Robert said: “We are incredibly proud to win the competition and now can’t wait to help more companies utilise our handwritten solution.
"The University of Bristol and, specifically, their enterprise hub Basecamp, have been hugely helpful since the start.”
Robert came up with the idea for Scribeless after spending several weeks handwriting letters during an internship.
He joined forces with Alex to develop software able to learn the nuances of handwriting in order to introduce variation and inconsistencies in its fake handwriting.
Robert and Alex use AI and advanced printing technology to create handwritten letters which are indiscernible from a letter written by the human hand. The service is already being used by banks, hotels and universities.
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Since launching last year, the duo have hired a number of interns from the University of Bristol and are currently recruiting for internship and full-time positions in their Bristol office.
The pair also raised an investment round earlier this year and are hiring sales and marketing professionals in the US.
Robert and Alex have said they will use the prize money, business mentoring and access to a funded intern, to grow Scribeless in Europe and the US.