Cluely
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | April 20, 2025 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Area served | Mainly United States |
Key people | |
| Products | AI meeting assistant software |
| Website | cluely |
Cluely is an artificial intelligence enterprise founded in 2025, specializing in providing AI-powered support during live virtual meetings and interviews. The firm initially attracted widespread attention through its provocative "cheat on everything" promotional campaign before shifting focus to a more traditional AI meeting assistant role.
Founding
The inception of Cluely traces back to its founders Chungin "Roy" Lee, Neel Shanmugam, and Alex Chen. The idea emerged following the suspension of Lee and Shanmugam from Columbia University in March 2025, which was related to their creation of Interview Coder, a Chrome browser extension that delivered AI-generated coding answers for technical job interview scenarios.
Cluely officially commenced operations on April 20, 2025, rapidly gaining traction with 70,000 registrations during its initial week.
Funding
On April 21, 2025, the startup raised $5.3 million in seed capital through a round co-led by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. Subsequently, on June 20, 2025, it secured $15 million in a Series A funding round spearheaded by Andreessen Horowitz, culminating in a total investment of $20.3 million.
Product
The Cluely desktop app analyzes screen visuals and audio inputs during virtual conferences, leveraging large language models to offer instantaneous response suggestions via an unobtrusive overlay that remains concealed when screen-sharing is active.
Independent evaluations pointed out challenges including latency issues with reply times spanning from 5 up to 90 seconds and responses that were often generic. CEO Lee acknowledged that the product was launched in a "very early stage."
Marketing campaign
At launch, Cluely adopted the slogan "Cheat on Everything," encouraging usage across job interviews, examinations, and social situations. The introductory video depicted Lee utilizing the software on a date to falsify his age, expertise, and professional background.
By the end of April 2025, amid growing criticism, the company removed explicit mentions of cheating during exams and interviews from its website. By November 2025, Cluely had rebranded itself as a conventional AI meeting assistant competing with platforms such as Otter.ai.