Vertical AI Innovations: Abacus LLM in Finance & Synthesia’s Video Avatars | E2112

Today’s show: Alex interviews founders from Abacus and Synthesia—two companies leading the charge in vertical AI. Abacus is deploying on-prem LLMs to banks and insurers with a focus on data control, accuracy, and integration with legacy infrastructure. Synthesia just hit $100M ARR by helping 70% of the Fortune 100 turn internal documents into scalable AI video. If you're interested in how generative AI is moving from hype to real enterprise utility, this one's for you. (0:00) Introduction to vertical AI with Abacus and Synthesia (1:57) Real-world applications of AI in regulated industries & Interview with Abacus founder David Moscatelli (5:02) Unique challenges for banks and credit unions using AI & Abacus OS private LLM (9:56) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for 12 months. (11:57) Abacus features, benefits, and customer acquisition strategies (12:27) Decentralized indexer, data integration, and voice AI technology with VAPI (19:58) Vapi - Go to http://vapi.ai/twist and get 1000 minutes free per month - for life. (24:47) On-premise setup, combating AI hallucinations, and trust in AI responses (30:08) Hubspot for Startups - Visit http://hubspot.com/startups and join the founders who are turning growth challenges into opportunities. (33:40) Abacus company growth, fundraising, and sales hiring (38:25) Introduction to Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli, AI avatars, and building a startup in Europe (41:34) Synthesia’s market positioning, target use cases, and personalized avatars (46:33) Synthesia's training data, partnerships, and improvements in AI avatar technology (55:57) Synthesia’s growth, Fortune 100 companies usage, and financial aspects (1:00:21) AI model competition, market appetite, and enterprise focus (1:02:09) Future of AI in video creation, ethical considerations, and Synthesia's plans Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Check out: Abacus: https://www.goabacus.co/ Synthesia: https://www.synthesia.io/ Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Thank you to our partners: (9:56) Atlassian - Head to https://www.atlassian.com/startups/twist to see if you qualify for 50 free seats for…