Scribe, a San Francisco-based startup valued at $1.3 billion, has developed an AI-powered browser extension that records employees’ work processes to automatically generate step-by-step guides, helping companies optimize workflows and train new staff. With over 80,000 customers and $100 million in annual revenue, Scribe emphasizes anonymized, team-level data analysis to improve efficiency while addressing privacy concerns associated with employee monitoring.
Scribe, a San Francisco-based startup founded in 2019, has developed a browser extension that records employees’ work activities to help train AI and improve business workflows. The software silently monitors employees’ screens, capturing the steps involved in repetitive tasks. Using AI, Scribe automatically generates detailed step-by-step guides and tutorials with annotated screenshots and click instructions, which help companies understand and optimize how different teams operate. This technology is also instrumental in teaching AI agents how to perform tasks independently by learning from human workflows.
The startup has gained significant traction, boasting 80,000 customers including major companies like LinkedIn, HubSpot, and T-Mobile. These organizations use Scribe’s guides to train new employees on complex workflows and identify inefficiencies, ultimately saving time and money. Scribe’s AI has analyzed over 15 million workflows across 40,000 business applications, uncovering inefficiencies such as sales reps spending excessive time switching between tools or customer service representatives juggling multiple platforms to answer simple queries. This insight allows companies to automate and streamline these processes.
Scribe’s business model includes a free version used by 600,000 organizations that captures browser-based work, while paid plans offer more comprehensive recording capabilities including desktop applications. The company recently surpassed $100 million in annualized recurring revenue and has over 6 million employees using its app. Its valuation reached $1.3 billion following a $75 million Series C funding round in November. The startup’s AI models leverage technology from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to analyze and optimize workflows.
The idea for Scribe originated from CEO Jennifer Smith’s experience as a business analyst, where she observed that much of a company’s institutional knowledge was trapped in employees’ heads and difficult to document. Traditionally, managers would have to observe employees directly to understand their work processes, which was inefficient and intrusive. Smith envisioned using AI to capture and codify this knowledge more effectively, leading to the creation of Scribe alongside co-founder Aaron Padoli.
While tools that monitor employee productivity have existed for years, the rise of AI has made such software more sophisticated and controversial. Unlike traditional “bossware,” Scribe emphasizes that it measures work processes rather than individual employee behavior, anonymizing data and focusing on team-level trends. Despite concerns about privacy and surveillance, Scribe’s customers maintain that the tool is designed to understand and improve workflows, not to spy on workers. This approach contrasts with other companies like Meta, which faced backlash for tracking employees’ computer activity to train AI models.