Table of Contents
- WRITER founders and financing at a glance
- Who is May Habib?
- Who is Waseem AlShikh?
- Why the founders built WRITER
- What WRITER does
- What makes the founder thesis distinctive?
- WRITER financing and transaction history
- What the latest milestone was intended to change
- Founder and company timeline
- The founders' public thesis
- Strengths, risks and unresolved questions
- Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months
- Frequently asked questions
May Habib and Waseem AlShikh founded WRITER, the enterprise generative and agentic ai platform business now serving enterprises deploying governed ai applications and agents. May Habib is Co-founder and CEO; Waseem AlShikh is Co-founder and CTO.
The latest material financing milestone covered here is $200M Series C, dated 2024-11-12. The relevant total is Approximately $326M disclosed, labelled as reported total across seed, Series A, Series B and Series C. It is company-level capital or transaction value—not founder net worth.
Authentic WRITER website evidence captured on 21 July 2026.
WRITER founders and financing at a glance
| Field | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Founding team | May Habib and Waseem AlShikh |
| Current or documented roles | May Habib: Co-founder and CEO; Waseem AlShikh: Co-founder and CTO |
| Company | WRITER — writer.com |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Headquarters or operating scope | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Product category | Enterprise generative and agentic AI platform |
| Primary customer | Enterprises deploying governed AI applications and agents |
| Latest financing milestone | $200M Series C, 2024-11-12 |
| Total or transaction value | Approximately $326M disclosed — reported total across seed, Series A, Series B and Series C |
| Public status | Privately held or part of an acquirer |
| Last verified | 21 July 2026 |
Who is May Habib?
May Habib is Co-founder and CEO at WRITER. May Habib's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.
Founder profile: Connect with May Habib on LinkedIn.
May Habib in WRITER’s official founders section.
In the founding team, May Habib contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind WRITER. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.
Who is Waseem AlShikh?
Waseem AlShikh is Co-founder and CTO at WRITER. Waseem AlShikh's role should be read in its current context: founder status is permanent, while executive responsibility can change as a company scales, lists publicly or is acquired.
Founder profile: Connect with Waseem AlShikh on LinkedIn.
Waseem AlShikh in WRITER’s official founders section.
In the founding team, Waseem AlShikh contributed to the combination of product judgment, technical execution and go-to-market work behind WRITER. The public evidence does not justify claims about private ownership, personal wealth or undisclosed internal responsibilities.
Why the founders built WRITER
Habib and AlShikh carried machine-translation experience from Qordoba into WRITER, concluding that enterprises needed a full stack of models, retrieval, guardrails and applications rather than a thin interface to public models.
This is documented company history plus editorial assessment. It does not establish private motivations beyond what the founders and company have said publicly.
What WRITER does
WRITER provides Palmyra models, knowledge retrieval, AI Studio, applications and agents with enterprise security, governance and deployment controls.
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What makes the founder thesis distinctive?
The founders chose to build industry-oriented models and a vertically integrated enterprise stack, positioning control and reliability as product advantages.
Our assessment is that durable differentiation must show up in customer outcomes, workflow adoption, reliable data movement and lower operating cost—not only in feature count or AI branding.
WRITER financing and transaction history
| Announcement date | Round or instrument | Amount | Lead or named participants | Reported use | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Seed | $5M | Multiple investors | Launch WRITER | Reported |
| 2021 | Series A | $21M | Insight Partners and others | Enterprise growth | Reported |
| 2023 | Series B | $100M | ICONIQ Growth and others | Full-stack generative AI | Disclosed |
| November 2024 | Series C | $200M | Premji Invest, Radical Ventures and ICONIQ Growth | Agentic enterprise AI | Confirmed latest round |
| — | Current qualified figure | Approximately $326M disclosed | — | — | reported total across seed, Series A, Series B and Series C |
The headline uses $200M Series C because it is the clearest recent milestone in the verified record. Different instruments are not silently combined: acquisition consideration, IPO proceeds, primary funding and secondary liquidity have different meanings.
What the latest milestone was intended to change
Public statements connect the milestone to some combination of product investment, AI capability, geographic expansion, hiring, acquisitions or shareholder liquidity. Those plans are attributed intentions, not proof that each outcome occurred. Evidence should include shipped capabilities, adoption, retention, unit economics and customer results after the transaction.
Founder and company timeline
| Period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Habib and AlShikh launch WRITER after Qordoba. |
| 2021 | The company raises a $21M Series A. |
| 2023 | WRITER closes a $100M Series B. |
| 2024 | The $200M Series C values WRITER at $1.9B. |
The founders' public thesis
Across the available company history, the founders argue that customer data becomes valuable when operating teams can turn it into timely, coordinated action. The exact emphasis differs by company—category creation, accessibility, data ownership, real-time infrastructure or AI-assisted execution—but the test is similar: can a customer make better decisions without adding hidden complexity?
Strengths, risks and unresolved questions
Visible strengths
- A founding thesis attached to a recurring and measurable marketing workflow.
- Product history and financing evidence available from primary sources.
- A platform broad enough to influence data, orchestration and customer communication.
Material risks
- The total is a reported cumulative figure.
- Agentic workflows need permissions, evaluation and human escalation.
- Company ROI claims require customer-specific baselines.
Questions buyers and researchers should ask
- Which founder roles are current, and which describe historical service?
- How is incremental customer or revenue impact measured against a control?
- What data, consent, model and deliverability controls constrain automated action?
- Which transaction amounts were primary capital, secondary liquidity or acquisition consideration?
- What implementation resources are required before the platform produces reliable value?
Evidence to watch over the next 12 to 18 months
Watch for independently explainable retention and expansion, transparent AI evaluation, successful migrations, product delivery tied to the announced financing purpose and current executive-role disclosures. For public companies, filings provide a stronger operating signal than promotional customer counts alone. For private companies, future financing announcements should identify transaction composition clearly.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded WRITER?
WRITER was founded by May Habib and Waseem AlShikh.
What does WRITER do?
WRITER provides enterprise generative and agentic ai platform capabilities for enterprises deploying governed ai applications and agents.
What is WRITER's latest financing milestone?
The latest milestone verified for this profile is $200M Series C, dated 2024-11-12.
How much funding has WRITER raised?
The qualified figure used here is Approximately $326M disclosed. Its status is reported total across seed, Series A, Series B and Series C; it should not be interpreted as founder wealth.
What should buyers verify?
Buyers should test data integration, consent controls, measurement, implementation effort, support, exportability and the limits placed on automated or AI-generated actions.
Tolu S.
Associate Director
Evidence-led product reviews and founder profiles for search, marketing, authority, and AI visibility teams.
