Inquisio.AI

Inquisio.AI is a Washington-based software company that researches, develops and commercializes AI-assisted tools intended to improve the productivity, efficiency and convenience of citizens and municipal corporations. Its stated focus is inefficiencies in local government workflows, particularly the handling of public records requests, with the aim of reducing bureaucratic burden, budget strain and litigation risk through automation.

The company's flagship product is described as Lens, an automated portal for managing public records requests, addressed at the roughly 90,000 local government agencies in the United States. Company materials frame the opportunity around the approximately $3 billion those agencies spend each year managing public records and upwards of $500 million paid in fines and lawsuit verdicts for failures to fulfill requests accurately and on time, with a target of saving each agency between $50,000 and $100,000 annually. Earlier descriptions of the company's aims also reference making government more effective and accessible through databases of policies and ordinances.

As of the material available, the company's website presents a pre-launch posture, inviting visitors to join a waitlist for products under development. Staffing is small, reported at 5 employees as of early 2024 and a 1-10 range in company listings.

Founding story

The company was founded in 2023 by Joshua Penner, who serves as mayor of Orting, Washington, and is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a background in business administration and management and the author of a book on strategy. His stated goal for the company was to make government more effective and more accessible through databases of policies and ordinances and, more broadly, to apply AI to local government problems.

Business model

The company builds a software suite sold to local government agencies, positioned around cost avoidance: it targets savings of roughly $50,000 to $100,000 per agency per year against the approximately $3 billion agencies collectively spend annually managing public records and the roughly $500 million paid in fines and lawsuit verdicts for failing to fulfill requests accurately and on time. Classifications of the company describe recurring revenue from government customers with automation software as the main product, tagged govtech and SaaS.

Recurring revenue from software sold to government customers, according to company classification data.

Traction

Reported total funding of $120,000 as of October 2023, participation in the Techstars Seattle 2023 accelerator, and a team of about 5 people as of February 2024. The public website indicates products were still pre-launch, with a waitlist and a "What We're Building" section.