In the software industry, companies spend an estimated $300-400 billion annually on R&D, and roughly 80% of the resulting features are rarely or never used by end customers.

The gap between what software can do and what users actually figure out how to use is widening, and Melbourne-based startup Cor believes the solution lies in an AI agent that can see what you are doing and teach you how to use it, while you ask it questions.

Cor has raised a $2 million AUD pre-seed round to scale "Obi," a generative video AI product designed to act as an interactive coach. Unlike standard text-based chatbots, Obi joins users via video call, observes their screen in real-time, and provides verbal guidance to navigate complex workflows.

The funding round was led by Rampersand, with participation from Archangel, Skalata, and Black Sheep Capital.

The premise behind Cor is that existing AI interfaces lack continuity. Mantas Aleksiejevas, co-founder of Cor and a former Google for Startups veteran, notes that while most AI chatbots function reasonably well when prompted, they often fail to maintain context over a long session, effectively becoming a "forgetful intern".

"We built Obi because we saw companies struggling with a fundamental problem: existing AI tools can't maintain context long enough to guide someone through complex product workflows," Aleksiejevas said.

Obi attempts to bridge this gap by mimicking a human customer success manager. It functions as a product expert available on demand, jumping into a session to guide users step-by-step.

This allows companies to offer what Rampersand Partner Andrew Poesaste calls "white-glove onboarding" to the long tail of customers who usually get left behind.

"From Salesforce to early-stage startups, only enterprise customers and top-tier accounts get white-glove onboarding... The reality is that 85% of the long tail gets left behind, forced to figure out complex products on their own," Poesaste said. "Cor's AI agent Obi changes this equation entirely."

Cor’s raise comes amidst a flurry of venture capital activity focused on specialised AI agents. The company points to recent sizable raises in the sector, including Lorikeet’s $75 million raise for customer support agents and Andreessen Horowitz-backed Sphere's $21 million raise for tax compliance.

However, Cor is betting its differentiation lies in the visual and interactive nature of its agent. The startup claims Obi is typically 80-90% cheaper than a human customer success manager.

The technology is already in use by early adopters like Sophiie AI, a virtual receptionist platform, and construction software provider Canibuild.

Sophiie AI uses Obi to onboard their non-technical users, including tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians, as well as SME business owners. Jacob Banks, founder of Sophiie said, “Obi has been essential to our hypergrowth over the last 12 months. It manages hundreds of onboarding sessions every month, helping users train and integrate our AI agent Sophiie into their workflows.”

The startup was bootstrapped before this formal financing. The idea germinated during Aleksiejevas’s time at Google, where he observed that startup clients consistently struggled to onboard customers, creating a bottleneck for international growth.

"AI is empowering teams to ship product changes at a maniacal pace, daily instead of quarterly," Poesaste added. "Obi closes this widening gap between what software can do and what users actually adopt".

The company plans to use the $2 million injection to scale operations, with a specific focus on hiring for sales and growth.