For modern writers, a challenge many of us face is the need to constantly switch between our word processor and the dozens of browser tabs we keep open for research purposes. Need to know how a company was founded? Keep that article from 2011 open. Need to know how much funding it has raised? Open CrunchBase in another tab.
Google Documents currently has what I'd call a halfway solution. With the word processor's "explore" button in the lower-right corner, you can find related research topics and articles based on what you're writing. Problem is, if you click on any of the articles that appear in that panel, they open in another tab.
While many of us may still have to look for a better solution, content marketers will soon have one. The solution is called Frase, a new Boston startup that has developed what it's calling a "real-time research assistant for content marketers and teams." But it's really a word processor with an artificial intelligence-powered research assistant inside.
The startup raised $200,000 seed round earlier this year from four angel investors, Tomas Ratia, one of the company's co-founders told BostInno, and it's currently working out of Dat Ventures, a Boston-based accelerator for international startups that has recently transformed into a coworking space for AI startups. Ratia is CEO and founder of Dat Ventures.
Ratia declined to disclose the investors' names but said they're executives at big data and advertising companies.
Frase acts as a word processor that runs from your web browser, and it uses natural language processing to identify key topics and entities, whether they're people, places or organizations. Then, using machine learning, Frase finds news stories and other online items from a variety sources based on those topics and identities, and they can appear in a panel next to what you're typing or in a separate feed to help you brainstorm future blog post ideas. In other words, it builds its own knowledge graph as you type.
"Through machine learning, Frase helps us understand what content is popular in a space."
Once a post is written, it can directly publish to Medium, HubSpot and Wordpress.
"With Frase, I envisioned a platform that would extract insights across many data sources, and contextually interact with the writer to help with research, creativity and productivity," Ratia said.
Frase has yet to officially launch to the public, but it is already doing a pilot with its first customer and agency partner, Mesh Agency, a Boston-based digital content marketing firm. In a statement provided by Ratia, Mesh co-founder Bill Schick said Frase helps its employees with creating high-quality, long-form content.
"Through machine learning, Frase helps us understand what content is popular in a space, which helps us refine our [buyer] personas. Frase also drives research that goes beyond the surface," Schick said, adding that he likes Frase's "ability to identify key 'entities' like most relevant authors, organizations, or trending topic."
Another important aspect of Frase, Schick added, is how it lets the agency scale its research efforts: "We learn from what we've created and are able to automate some research tasks" and draw key insights.
The idea for Frase came from a previous startup Ratia founded called Folio, which was based at Harvard Innovation Lab and served as a publishing platform meant to help academics connect with the public. When the company closed in 2014, Ratia found himself still interested in the word processor component of Folio. He also began thinking how word processors and search engines have evolved independently of each other, leaving a major productivity gap between the writing and research. At the same time, he became increasingly fascinated with data sciences. From there, the idea for Frase was born.
Ratia said he will use the seed round to launch Frase, acquire his first customers and reach revenue within the next six months. Once the startup can prove market fit, it will begin working on raising a Series A, he added.
Frase currently has five employees.
