Why We Invested In Ensis - AI For Government RFPs

Excited to announce our investment in the $4M seed for Ensis, which is building a Gen AI tool for government contractors to streamline the process of responding to government request for proposals (RFPs). The aim is to drastically reduce the manpower and time needed while improving the success rate of the applications. Tau is co-leading the investment with NextGen Venture Partners. Tau Ventures is an AI-first fund in Silicon Valley investing primarily in mature seed, typically when there is a pipeline of customers, but occasionally we take earlier or later bets when there is exceptional promise. We found Ensis to be intriguing in several areas: (1) strong need, (2) weak legacy competition, and (3) an execution-focused and seasoned team.

1) The Need - Large Untapped Market

In FY2023, federal spending on contractual services and supplies soared to $891 billion, representing a vast, yet largely untapped, market. The existing procedure for government contractors to navigate the research, preparation, and bidding process is not only protracted but also financially burdensome. Teams often invest months in executing the essential groundwork to submit a bid. For major government contractors, this involves deploying thousands of personnel on proposals, pricing, and overarching pricing strategy. Conversely, smaller contractors face severe capacity constraints, limiting their ability to bid on a broader spectrum of opportunities. Our startup aims to revolutionize this landscape, streamlining processes to empower both large and small contractors, making federal procurement more accessible and efficient.

2) Weak Legacy Competition

Existing technology for these workflows is limited. Teams either do not leverage software, or are limited to legacy, Private Equity operated solutions that are clunky and outdated. There is an opportunity to disrupt the existing players, but also to leverage AI to attack greenfield opportunities that incumbents have yet to solve for.

3) The Team

In making this investment, our primary focus is on the exceptional founders driving the startup's vision. The team's collective expertise spans various critical domains, including building companies from inception, developing regulated software tailored for significant healthcare entities, adeptly responding to RFPs across public and private sectors, navigating complex large-scale sales environments, and crafting software that successfully navigates stringent government and industry audits. Our investment reflects our confidence in the founders' proven track record and their ability to leverage their comprehensive skill set to drive the success of this promising venture.

Originally published on “Data Driven Investor.” Primary author of this article is Sonal Panda co-written with Amit Garg. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (we call it gl;dr — good length; did read). See here for other such articles. If this article had useful insights for you, comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are from the author(s).