Marketplaces for software and services based on reviews are starting to reach their sell-by date. The user-generated reviews on sites like G2 and Capterra (one of Gartner's three software directories) have often been accused of being paid for by software vendors.
In fact, eight out nine of the reviews on the first page of G2's reviews of HubSpot are labelled “Incentivized Review.” Born out of the AI-pioneers behind Jukedeck, Stackfix is a startup that has now raised $3 million in seed funding to make AI test and review software instead of humans, aiming to introduce a greater level of transparency and independence to the process.
Stackfix was founded in 2023 by Paddy Stobbs (previously cofounder of Jukedeck, acquired by TikTok) and Camin McCluskey (formerly of Skyscanner).
After Jukedeck, Stobbs joined the London-based Accelerator Entrepreneur First as an advisor, where often the most common question from startups was: “What software should I use for XYZ?” He used this as inspiration to come up with Stackfix.
On software review marketplaces, vendors can pay to appear higher up the search results. Meanwhile, there is a thriving industry bribing people to give five-star ratings to software products they've never used, often with credits for the software in question. And lastly, hours of endless Googling, trawling through blogs, reading reviews, and asking friends no longer scales to the problem most companies face in choosing software.
Ironically, the problem is in fact compounding because of AI: Modern tools make it easier to build software, so the sheer amount of software out there means the review-based approach is creaking under the weight of new releases.
Stackfix says it tests software products in real time, providing an up-to-date, standardized dataset with which to assess software. This enables it to offer buyers insights into pricing, features, and performance using an AI rather than a user-review approach, which is highly gameable.
Boston, MA July 15
Stobbs told technewss: “G2/Capterra use user-generated reviews to try and understand software products. This method is no longer fit for purpose. User-generated reviews are untrustworthy, quickly become stale, and are not comprehensive.”
The company says businesses across Europe and North America have used Stackfix in private beta, and it is generating some revenue already.
Chalfen Ventures led the funding round, with participation from Seedcamp and helloworld.
Mike Chalfen, general partner at Chalfen Ventures, said in a statement: “For small businesses, the software buying process is often time-consuming, complex, and expensive. Stackfix leverages AI to simplify the entire process.”
Stackfix is also backed by angel investors Mehdi Ghissassi (head of product at DeepMind), Matt Clifford (chair of Entrepreneur First) and others.