Proprietary Hamlet model powers in-call coaching with live suggestions in under 500 milliseconds; customers include Microsoft, Capital One and Lyft

NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Othello, an applied AI lab building AI models for live sales calls, today announced $8 million in seed funding from a16z speedrun, Owl Capital and Long Journey Ventures. Angel investors include DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf, Sentry co-founder David Cramer, Writer co-founder Waseem AlShikh, Axonius co-founder Dean Sysman, Deel co-founders Alex and Philippe Bouaziz and TransDigm CEO Kevin Stein. Its real-time AI sales coaching guides reps while buyers are still on the line. Learn more at othello.ai.

 Gartner predicts that by 2028, 60% of B2B seller work will be executed through conversational user interfaces, up from less than 5% in 2023.

“There is a ton of technology before the conversation and way too much after it ends, but not a single tool that affects how you perform during the call,” said Jared Zelman, co-founder and CEO of Othello. “That’s not a software problem. It’s an AI problem. The only way to give smart recommendations in real time, with the full context of a deal, is to train AI models just for that.”

How Othello’s real-time coaching works during a call

Othello runs on Hamlet, a proprietary model built for live sales calls. A desktop app starts when a call begins and shows live pop-ups in any online meeting, without joining as a participant. During each call, Othello’s in-call coaching delivers live suggestions and live meeting prompts that tell reps:

• What discovery question to ask next
• Which MEDDPICC, Challenger or playbook steps they’ve missed
• How to answer product and technical questions
• How to handle objections
• How to stand out against competitors
• Which case study to share
• When the buyer is ready to move forward

Rapid enterprise adoption

Othello is deployed at over 50 large enterprises, including several Fortune 500 companies. Othello adds several new multinational enterprise customers weekly. Customers include Microsoft, Capital One, Lyft, a top 10 accounting firm and a top 10 asset manager.

Othello serves customers across a wide range of industries, including insurance, accounting, financial services, asset management, enterprise software, cybersecurity, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. Its real-time AI sales coaching helps sales teams across these industries improve performance during live customer conversations.

Licensed reps adopt Othello within a week of downloading the app, and reps use it on 95% or more of their calls. 

Request a demo at othello.ai.

About Othello

Othello is an applied AI lab building AI models for live sales calls. Its proprietary model, Hamlet, powers real-time coaching with live suggestions in under 500 milliseconds. Othello is headquartered in New York and is backed by a16z speedrun, Owl Capital and Long Journey Ventures. Follow Othello on LinkedIn, X (@Othello_AI) and Instagram (@othello.ai).

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SOURCE Othello