Flagship Pioneering, the innovation engine behind transformative platforms and products, has unveiled Extuitive, an AI-first company aimed at democratizing product innovation for small businesses. With $20 million in seed funding from Flagship, Extuitive’s platform leverages agentic AI—autonomous software agents trained as product designers, marketers, and consumer researchers—to accelerate how products and targeted content are created, validated, and launched.
The company emerges from Flagship’s Pioneering Intelligence initiative, combining human creativity, adaptive natural systems, and machine intelligence in what Flagship calls “polyintelligent design.” Extuitive aims to provide small businesses the enterprise-grade innovation tools typically reserved for large corporations.
AI-Powered Innovation for Entrepreneurs
Small businesses drive over 40% of U.S. GDP, yet they’ve traditionally lacked access to advanced research, consumer testing, and marketing analytics. Extuitive addresses this gap with a platform that enables:
- Creative generation: AI agents produce multiple product concepts and creative content tailored to specific audiences.
- Simulated consumer testing: Proprietary behavioral models predict market fit before any capital is spent.
- Real-time validation: Product designs and messaging are instantly tested and refined for target markets.
“Extuitive simulates real human preferences with remarkable precision, allowing entrepreneurs to generate, refine, compare, and validate products and creative content quickly,” said Armen Mkrtchyan, CEO and Co-founder. “By embedding agentic AI into every stage of the product innovation lifecycle, we’re collapsing the time and cost barriers that traditionally slowed innovation.”
Building on a Legacy of Algorithmic Design
Extuitive builds on the foundation laid by Affinnova, Flagship’s earlier venture in algorithmic product optimization, which Nielsen acquired in 2014. Now, with AI and agentic capabilities, Extuitive promises to accelerate product development cycles, improve market fit predictions, and scale creative output far beyond previous limitations.
Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chairman of Extuitive and Flagship Pioneering, emphasized the broader mission: “As AI increasingly becomes an engine of discovery and design, we see a unique opportunity to transform entire industries. Extuitive enables a new class of entrepreneurs to create and amplify with the speed, insight, and sophistication once limited to the world’s largest companies.”
Leadership and Expertise
Extuitive’s leadership blends AI, technology, and consumer goods expertise. Key figures include Armen Mkrtchyan (CEO), Sunand Menon (President), and Chong Guo (Chief Science Officer). The board features Afeyan, Mkrtchyan, Jim Gilbert (Senior Partner, Flagship), and David Kenny (Executive Chairman, Nielsen), ensuring guidance rooted in innovation and operational experience.
By combining AI-driven design, predictive market testing, and real-time validation, Extuitive seeks to redefine how small businesses approach product development, leveling the playing field against larger competitors and dramatically accelerating time-to-market.
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