GPTZero, an AI-detection startup founded by Edward Tian and Alex Cui, has grown to over 20 million registered users and generates $30 million in annual recurring revenue, according to fortune.com. The company was acquired by Superhuman, formerly known as Grammarly, in June under undisclosed terms. PitchBook data valued GPTZero at more than $88 million, with the deal representing at least a 10x return on the $13.5 million raised by the startup.
Edward Tian built GPTZero during the winter break of his senior year at Princeton, shortly after ChatGPT became widely used. The initial free hosting on Streamlit attracted 30,000 users within a week, causing the site to crash. Tian and Cui, longtime friends from Toronto, now lead an "authenticity" team within Superhuman focused on integrating their AI-detection technology into tools for millions of writers, fortune.com reported.
GPTZero's rapid growth and acquisition highlight the rising demand for AI content detection amid the proliferation of generative AI tools. The startup's valuation and revenue multiples underscore investor confidence in AI authenticity technologies. Superhuman's purchase aligns with its productivity focus, expanding its offerings to include AI writing verification, a feature increasingly relevant in journalism, education, and content creation sectors.
The acquisition was finalized in June, and Tian and Cui continue to develop GPTZero's technology under Superhuman's umbrella. The startup's $30 million annual recurring revenue and over 20 million users position it as a leading player in AI content detection, according to fortune.com.