AskBrian
AskBrian (a think-cell company since September 2023) develops Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant that automates document translation, file conversion, financial research, and slide-graphics tasks for management consultants and business professionals, sold via per-seat subscription through email, Teams, and Slack.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersWolfratshausen, Germany
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What AskBrian does
AskBrian, founded in Munich in 2018 and now operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of think-cell Technologies GmbH following its September 2023 acquisition, builds and sells Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant targeted at management consultants and business professionals. Brian is delivered through a conversational interface accessible via email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and a web application, and exposes more than 30 skills spanning document translation, file conversion via ABBYY OCR, public-company financial analysis powered by Morningstar, slide graphics, research, and bullet-point/content generation. The underlying architecture uses NLP for intent identification and skill routing, runs on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure hosted in Germany, and applies a snippet-by-snippet processing model to preserve confidentiality of uploaded documents.
The product is sold on a subscription basis with two tiers: Brian License (starting at €10/user/month, covering file translation, file conversion, and convenience skills) and Brian Pro License (up to €50/user/month, adding public-company analysis). Go-to-market combines a product-led-growth motion (14-day free trial without registration, self-serve onboarding) with enterprise sales into top-tier consulting firms; publicly cited customers include Bain & Company, Oliver Wyman, Stern Stewart & Co., Siemens Management Consulting, Allianz Consulting, and Facebook. The company holds ISO 27001 certification and is fully GDPR-compliant, positioning it for European enterprise buyers handling sensitive client material. Historically, AskBrian operated independently and raised an angel round in June 2020 and a pre-seed round in July 2021; since September 2023 it has been consolidated under think-cell Technologies GmbH, which is now the legal entity of record with a registered office in Berlin.
AskBrian firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- AskBrian
- Legal name
- think-cell Technologies GmbH
- Website
- https://askbrian.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- AskBrian (a think-cell company since September 2023) develops Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant that automates document translation, file conversion, financial research, and slide-graphics tasks for management consultants and business professionals, sold via per-seat subscription through email, Teams, and Slack.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
AskBrian industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Productivity Software
- NAICS
- Translation and Interpretation Services (54193), Other Computer Related Services (541519)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- AI & Automation in Customer Service (Chatbots, Agent Assist) (EDABACAO)
Keywords
Where AskBrian is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Wolfratshausen
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
AskBrian business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Brian License Subscription: Monthly or annual subscription license for basic AI assistant services including file translation, file conversion, and convenience skills for internal professional use.
- Brian Pro License Subscription: Premium subscription tier including all Brian License features plus public company analysis and financial research tools, targeted at professionals requiring comprehensive financial work support.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Brian License - Basic digital assistant for professionals |
| Subscription | Monthly | Brian Pro License - Professional tier with financial research |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Trial - 14-day access |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
AskBrian product offering
Product offeringCore offering
AskBrian provides Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant for consultants and business professionals that automates repetitive productivity tasks — including document translation, file format conversion, public company financial analysis, slide graphics, and research — through a conversational interface accessible via email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and a web application. The service is delivered via two subscription tiers (Brian License and Brian Pro License) and integrates third-party AI/data providers such as DeepL, Google Translate, ABBYY OCR, and Morningstar to power its skill set.
Product overview
AskBrian is a Munich/Berlin-based AI company (acquired by think-cell in September 2023) offering Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant for business professionals. The product portfolio consists of two subscription tiers: Brian License (base tier with file translation, conversion, and convenience skills) and Brian Pro License (adds public company analysis with 1,000+ financial data points from Morningstar). Brian is accessible via multiple channels including MS Teams, Slack, WebApp, and email. The assistant specializes in automating repetitive consulting tasks including translations (via DeepL/Google), file conversions (via ABBYY OCR), slide graphics, and research with over 30 skills available. The company emphasizes security with ISO 27001 certification, GDPR compliance, and data processing agreements with all subprocessors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Brian AI Digital Assistant Core AI-powered digital assistant product for consultants and business professionals that automates over 30 productivity tasks including document translation, file conversion, research, slide graphics, and public company analysis through natural language interactions via email, Teams, Slack, or the web app.
- Brian License Subscription Base subscription tier providing core Brian AI assistant capabilities including file translation, file conversion, and convenience skills (industry benchmarks, country facts, tax rates, PDF acrobatics, custom icon sets, slide templates) for internal business use, priced starting at 10€ per user per month.
- Brian Pro License Subscription Premium subscription tier including all Brian License features plus public company analysis delivering 1,000+ structured financial data points sourced from Morningstar, designed for financial research and analysis work, priced up to 50€ per user per month depending on skill set.
- Brian for Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams integration channel allowing users to chat with Brian directly within Teams for translations, research, file handling, and other productivity tasks, enabling enterprise teams to access the AI assistant inside their existing collaboration environment.
- Brian for Slack Slack integration enabling users to communicate with Brian via Slack messages for task automation and assistance within their existing team collaboration environment.
- Brian WebApp Web-based application portal (app.askbrian.ai) for accessing Brian's digital assistant services, serving as the primary self-serve entry point with 14-day free trial and subscription onboarding for individual and team evaluation.
Quantifiable outcome
- 6 hours and 42 minutes saved per active user per month
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use AskBrian
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
AskBrian technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability8 records
Feature6 records
AskBrian partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators7 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights4 records
AskBrian competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Otter.ai: Otter.ai provides an AI meeting and productivity assistant for business professionals that captures conversations, generates summaries, and routes actions into workflows. It targets the same knowledge-worker seat budget as Brian with a conversational AI interface.
- Mem: Mem offers an AI-powered knowledge work assistant that organizes notes, surfaces information, and automates routine tasks for individual professionals. Its self-organizing workspace model competes for the same productivity dollar Brian targets with its multi-skill assistant.
- DeepL: DeepL is the dominant professional-grade machine translation service that Brian itself uses as an underlying provider. It overlaps directly on Brian's file-translation skill and competes for the same enterprise translation budget that Brian captures through its assistant interface.
- Spellbook: Spellbook is an AI assistant embedded in professional services workflows (legal drafting and review), paralleling AskBrian's strategy of layering domain-specific skills on top of an AI core for high-stakes, document-heavy client work.
- Magical: Magical automates repetitive text and data tasks (form filling, data transfer, templating) inside the browser for consultants, recruiters, and other knowledge workers. It overlaps with Brian's automation of repetitive workflow tasks for the same buyer persona.
- Sana (Sana Labs): Sana builds an enterprise AI knowledge layer that combines search, assistants, and automated learning for organizations. Its enterprise-AI-assistant positioning mirrors Brian's multi-skill, secure processing approach targeting knowledge-intensive firms.
- Glean: Glean is an enterprise AI search and assistant platform that aggregates knowledge across workplace tools to answer professional questions — directly comparable to Brian's research skill and its enterprise SaaS GTM motion toward consulting and corporate clients.
- Harvey AI: Harvey builds a domain-specialized AI assistant for elite professional services (law firms, consultancies). It mirrors AskBrian's model of an AI agent that performs research, drafting, and analysis tasks for high-end knowledge workers under strict confidentiality requirements.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365: Microsoft's Copilot is a broad enterprise AI assistant bundled into Teams, Outlook, and Office — the exact channels Brian leverages. It is the most consequential incumbent threat, offering overlapping skills (translation, drafting, research) natively where Brian sits as a third party.
- Notion AI: Notion AI adds generative and research-style skills inside Notion's widely adopted knowledge work tool. It targets the same self-serve productivity budget with a different surface but overlapping value proposition to Brian's research and content-generation skills.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
AskBrian social profiles
Digital presenceAskBrian compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
AskBrian financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
AskBrian leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
AskBrian funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
AskBrian M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about AskBrian
What does AskBrian do?
AskBrian provides Brian, an AI-powered digital assistant for consultants and business professionals that automates repetitive productivity tasks — including document translation, file format conversion, public company financial analysis, slide graphics, and research — through a conversational interface accessible via email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and a web application. The service is delivered via two subscription tiers (Brian License and Brian Pro License) and integrates third-party AI/data providers such as DeepL, Google Translate, ABBYY OCR, and Morningstar to power its skill set.
Is AskBrian a public or private company?
AskBrian is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was AskBrian founded?
AskBrian was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is AskBrian based?
AskBrian is headquartered in Wolfratshausen, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does AskBrian make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Brian License Subscription is the primary driver. The others are brian Pro License Subscription.
Who are AskBrian's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Otter.ai, Mem, DeepL, Spellbook, Magical, Sana (Sana Labs), Glean and Harvey AI. Broad incumbents are Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Notion AI.
Does AskBrian have an API?
No public API is recorded for AskBrian.
What industry is AskBrian in?
AskBrian's product category is AI Productivity Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDABACAO, AI & Automation in Customer Service (Chatbots, Agent Assist). Its NAICS code is 54193 and its SIC code is 7372.