Viral AI 'cheating' startup Cluely lands $15 million led by Andreessen Horowitz
Cluely, the San Francisco startup that promised to help people "cheat on everything," just nabbed $15 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, its founder announced Friday on X.
Cluely launched earlier this year as a tool to help software engineers cheat on their job interviews, among other use cases. Chungin "Roy" Lee, Cluely's CEO and cofounder, went viral after he was suspended by Columbia University over an early version of the tool.
Cluely has since removed references to cheating on job interviews from its website. It still positions itself as an "undetectable" AI that sees its users' screens and feeds them answers in real time.
With the cash, Lee plans to go all in on marketing. His main goal is for Cluely to reach 1 billion views across all platforms, he told BI.
"We'll do pretty much whatever it takes to do that," he said.
Cluely is certainly no stranger to marketing.
When it launched earlier this year, it posted a tongue-in-cheek video of Lee trying to use Cluely to impress a woman on a date. (The attempt, one might add, was unsuccessful.)
Cluely has also announced plans to hire 50 "growth interns" who must post at least four TikToks a day.
Andreessen Horowitz partner Bryan Kim said that Lee is a "founder with the boldness to rethink what's possible."
"We backed Roy early because he brings a rare mix of vision and fearlessness," Kim said in a statement provided to BI.
Cluely's original backers, Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures—who previously helped raise $5.3 million—are also participating in the new round, Lee told Business Insider.
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