Gloo has a curious leadership pairing of former Intel boss Pat [kicking] Gelsinger as executive chair, and ex-Blockbuster chief operating officer Scott Beck. If ever there was a duo that could turn water into streaming content, this might be it.
The Christian tech outfit floated after trimming its initial offering and briefly rose five per cent before wavering. It raised $73 million, which is decent money for preaching in the digital wilderness, although the average IPO this year has enjoyed a pop closer to 25 per cent.
Founded in 2013, Gloo aims to bring the Christian faith into the digital age by using what it calls “values-aligned” generative AI to distribute content and provide marketing services to ministries and outreach groups.
Beck told The Financial Times: “There’s an imperative to shape technology for good. On its own, it isn’t good or bad; the question is what it’s used for.”
Beck explained the company’s divine struggle with AI accuracy, saying the software from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google was “still 15 per cent not accurate as it relates to Bible verses, so we’re building foundational models based on curated data, biblical content, extra biblical content and sermon content to eliminate hallucinations.”
Beck said he wanted to stop models confusing Exodus with a shopping list, which seems fair enough.
The market debut came during a choppy patch for US tech shares, with the Nasdaq Composite down four per cent this past week as investors questioned whether the AI boom was truly heaven-sent or heading for Revelation-style fireworks.
Gloo sold 9.1 million shares at $8, which was below the $10 to $12 range the company had first pitched to investors, leaving it with a $630 million market capitalisation. Roth Capital Partners led the deal while retail punters got a taste through Fidelity Retail and Robinhood, which must have felt like passing the collection plate around the pews.
The company has grown fast, acquiring five firms this year, although it has burned cash faster than a medieval witch. Revenue nearly tripled to $28.5 million in the six months to July, but net losses ballooned to $71.1 million from $ 27.4 million. It ended July with $22.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, which would not keep many megachurches lit for long.
Cedar Grove Capital Management chief investment officer Paul Cerro said: “Gloo is building a company based on a noble cause (bringing people closer to religion), but their strategy and emphasis on AI are creating more problems than it is solving and burning a hole in their pocket at the same time.”
Beck admitted the company had made “a lot of upfront investments”. However, he insisted it was “moving towards profitability in an aggressive manner”, which sounded a bit like promising the congregation the second coming would happen any minute now.
Gelsinger has been on Gloo’s board for a decade and became executive chair in March, three months after stepping down from Chipzilla, where he could not conjure enough divine intervention to save the outfit.