Select Language:
A 21-year-old entrepreneur, Chungin “Roy” Lee, announced on Sunday that his startup Cluely has successfully raised $5.3 million in a seed funding round, with contributions from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. Based in San Francisco, Cluely is geared toward developing an AI-powered tool that the company claims can aid users in “cheating in various scenarios.”
The idea for Cluely originated from a popular post Lee shared on the social media platform X, where he revealed that he and his co-founder, Neel Shanmugam, had created a tool designed to assist software engineers in cheating during job interviews. This venture led to their suspension from Columbia University.
The tool, dubbed Interview Coder, has now been integrated into Cluely’s offerings. It enables users to leverage AI for cheating during tests, sales calls, and job interviews, utilizing a hidden browser window that remains undetected by interviewers or examiners.
Lee, who serves as the CEO of Cluely, shared in an interview that the AI tool achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of over $3 million earlier this month. Shanmugam, also 21 and a former Columbia University student, currently holds the position of COO at Cluely. Both founders have faced disciplinary action from the university related to their involvement in developing the tool, and recent reports confirm that they have since withdrawn from the school. Columbia declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.
Initially, Cluely was simply a tool aimed at helping programmers tackle coding challenges on the LeetCode platform, which the founders viewed as outdated, overly formalized, and a waste of time.
Lee admitted that he successfully secured an internship at Amazon through the assistance of the AI tool. While Amazon did not comment on Lee’s specific situation, they reiterated their policy that prohibits candidates from using any unauthorized tools during the interview process.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
