Why We Invested In Composabl: Empowering Subject Matter Experts in Industrial Automation

Photo: Composabl CEO Kence Anderson

Ridgeline recently made an investment in Composabl, which is building a no code platform for building AI agents in industrial and manufacturing settings. The platform allows the process experts to build autonomous agents and machine learning models without data science or software engineering expertise. 

Composabl allows industrial engineers to collaborate directly with automation and AI, teaching the AI agents to perform the work alongside them in real world settings. With Composabl, the process engineer leveraging their subject matter expertise is a part of the process to build and guide the development of automation.

Bridging Human Expertise and AI

The company is led by Kence Anderson. Kence is one of the thought leaders of a concept called machine teaching: the idea of imbuing machine learning with human expertise, teaching the machine how to do the work as the human would, and using institutional knowledge of those process engineers and industrial engineers in the training of a system.

When we were introduced to Kence our diligence started with conversations about this idea of machine teaching, industrial automation, and industrial AI. We became very interested in what Kence’s vision was, and as we developed a better understanding for what he was trying to build and the set of customers that they were going after, we saw it was well aligned with Ridgeline's thesis and where we are able to add value.

Founder Market Fit: Kence Anderson's Vision for Industrial Automation

Kence is a great example of "founder-market fit." He understands the problem space extremely well, he is a leader in the area of AI that drives the product, and has deep experience with the customer needs. In fact, he’s lived this story before. He's had a long career in computer science and building products in these spaces. Before Composabl, Kence was an early employee at Bonsai. After the company was acquired by Microsoft, he continued to work with the Bonsai product and the breadth of customers that Microsoft brought. That experience gives Kence a bit of a super power with Composabl as he knows many of the challenges and risks that Bonsai and Microsoft had to deal with while taking the Bonsai product to market. 

Composabl showed that they are starting from a different point due to a set of relationships Kence and the team have with potential customers. They are leveraging those relationships to create the most relevant product for the customer base it intends to go after. They are going to start patiently and learn as much as they can with the initial set of design partners, but there's great interest and demand for the product already. 

Photo: Composabl CTO Xavier Geerinck and CEO Kence Anderson.

Empowering Process Experts: Composabl's Role in Industrial Transformation

Industrial AI has seen significant changes over the past decade. First, there was predictive maintenance, then anomaly detection, then deep reinforcement learning, which have all moved the field forward. What has been missing is the inclusion of the subject matter experts that know these processes best, leveraging machine teaching. With this step forward, Kence and his team's product have the potential to significantly drive the adoption of industrial AI and automation across various industries.

While the current focus has been on integrating and modernizing AI in the creative and content-driven sectors, Composabl aims to extend this wave of innovation to the industrial realm. By empowering subject matter experts and leveraging their expertise, Composabl can make a substantial impact on industries that are much larger than the ones typically targeted by generalized AI. This presents an opportunity to revolutionize and optimize industrial processes on a scale previously unseen.

During these early days, Ridgeline will be involved in Composabl’s product positioning, product marketing, and new user experience. We will bring our relationships across logistics, retail and manufacturing to help Composabl begin its go-to-market journey. We will be engaged with Kence and his team from the ground up and are very encouraged by the potential.