In a digital world where subscription-based business models reign supreme, companies face a dual challenge: attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Subsets, a Danish startup, aims to bridge this retention gap with an AI-powered platform.

Founded in 2022, Subsets harnesses the power of explainable AI to identify subscribers at risk of churning and provides tailored experiments to entice them to stay. This AI can explain its decisions and insights in a human-understandable manner, addressing the infamous “black box” problem often associated with AI.

With notable clients like the New York Times-owned Athletic and Danish newspaper Børsen, Subsets has secured $1.65 million in pre-seed funding led by Nordic VC Upfin and Y Combinator. This investment will fuel the company’s expansion and further development of its retention platform.

Subsets focuses on the digital media vertical, helping publishers, streaming platforms, and subscription apps retain subscribers. Companies connect Subsets to their internal systems, allowing the platform to gather subscriber data points like demographics, content consumption patterns, and customer interactions.

Through an intuitive web app, commercial teams can analyze churn audiences and craft retention experiments. These experiments could involve targeted push notifications, email discounts, or free feature upgrades. The platform automates successful experiments, continuously adapting to changing subscriber behavior.

Subsets’ AI algorithms employ gradient-boosting models and temporal sequencing methods to understand churn-driving behavior. The company plans to integrate OpenAI’s foundational model, the same technology behind ChatGPT, to enhance its downstream functionality.

With half of Y Combinator companies utilizing LLMs, Subsets’ investment from YC is a testament to the growing significance of AI in subscription retention. This funding opens doors to new opportunities, including collaborations with YC alumni like the Athletic.

Subsets’ mission is to help companies transform their subscription models into recurring revenue powerhouses. By leveraging AI and data-driven insights, the platform empowers businesses to retain customers, reduce churn, and unlock sustainable growth.