Blok raises $7.5M to build AI agents that simulate human behavior to accelerate software testing – News

A startup called Blok Intelligence Inc. today said it has raised $7.5 million to transform the software testing process with artificial intelligence agents that simulate the behavior of human users.

The money comes via a seed funding round led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from angel investors at companies that include Google LLC, Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. There was also an earlier pre-seed round led by Protagonist and backed by Rackhouse, Weekend Fund and Blank Ventures.

Blok says it has developed AI agents that are grounded in a combination of behavioral science and product data to try to simulate how different types of people use software. That way, developers can identify the most useful features and uncover and eliminate any friction points in their applications. It’s aiming to transform the software testing process, which often takes weeks, and condense it into a matter of hours.

According to the startup, the capabilities its AI agents provide are needed more than ever, given the surging popularity of “vibe coding,” where developers accelerate their productivity with the help of generative AI programming tools. That has led to a flood of new digital products, but the challenge is that many of these new applications aren’t giving people what they want.

To understand what users want from their software, companies will put new applications and features through a rigorous testing process. But that involves getting different humans to explore new products manually, and those teams cannot keep up with the pace at which new software is being created.

Blok gets around that with AI agents that behave like humans. It says they’re curious, imperfect and full of nuance, just like people are. By grounding them in the “messy realities” of human decision making, they’re better able to identify what humans will like and dislike about new software products.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Tom Charman (pictured, left, alongside co-founder Olivia Higgs) said he thinks static, one-size-fits-all software products are soon going to become obsolete, replaced by tools that are more adaptive and responsive to each user’s needs. But developers need help to understand what those needs are.

“We’re already seeing teams drowning in data signals, slow feedback cycles and resource constraints,” he said. “Product decisions fall back on charisma or the highest paid person’s opinion. We’re building a new model for the software of tomorrow that can make sense of complex data patterns at AI-scale.”

The CEO said early adopters of its platform in the financial services and consumer health industries are already using its platform to condense four- to six-week test cycles into a similar number of hours. Armed with the rapid insights it provides, those customers can make much bolder bets on product design, Charman added.

MaC Venture Capital Managing Partner Marlon Nichols said Blok is tackling a critical challenge in modern software development. “It’s leveraging AI to understand user behavior with enough precision to power real time adaptive experiences,” he said. “Blok is creating the foundational AI infrastructure for the next generation of intelligent, user-centric software.”

Photos: Blok