Harmonyze (previously known as Legal Hat) – which is an AI-first platform designed to increase franchisor’s profit margins – announced the closing of over $2 million in pre-seed funding. The fundinground was led by Bowery Capital, with participation from Focal.VC, and individual investors that include CXOs at franchisors, AI companies, and private equity firms.
This funding round is recognition of the significant value Harmonyze’s AI technology can create for franchisors, and the company’s strong commercial growth. Harmonyze was built to support overall profit margins through operational cost reductions and improved same-store sales.
Harmonyze utilizes AI agents to centralize and automate operational and legal compliance, monitoring and reporting, and rapid two-way experimentation across scaled franchise networks. And by reducing a franchisor’s team’s manual compliance-focused tasks, Harmonyze increases its bandwidth for strategic work like investing in closer relationships with franchisees, building the overall brand, and developing new intellectual property.
Harmonyze has already seen impressive commercial interest in its first year. The Picklr, the fastest-growing indoor pickleball franchise in the world, depends on Harmonyze to refocus its team on more strategic growth initiatives that contribute to revenue growth across its network. Harmonyze’s AI understands all of The Picklr’s franchisees’ contractual obligations and tracks them for completeness, fully automating over 200 compliance and legal tasks and increasing team bandwidth by over 10%.
Harmonyze is headed by Gary Liskovich, CEO and Co-founder, and Jonny Greenspan, CTO and Co-founder. Childhood friends who grew up in Brooklyn, Gary and Jonny spent the last ten years building AI products and leading teams at enterprise companies, including Deloitte and Salesforce, as well as at high-growth startups, including SmartAsset, EvolutionIQ, QuickFrame (acquired by MNTN), and Eskalera. The founders are active advisors to the Titus Center for Franchising, members of the International Franchise Association, and trusted partners of the Franchise Supplier Network.
With this new capital injection, the Harmonyze founders will accelerate the development and deployment of its AI-first solution, further expand its market reach, and hire several key roles across the engineering and commercial teams.
KEY QUOTES:
“Operations leaders running franchise networks at scale are charged with coordinating thousands of tasks across countless locations, often at the expense of important strategic work that elevates the brand. By developing AI agents purpose-built for franchisors, we’ve been able to significantly streamline and simplify this complexity. I’m thrilled to continue developing cutting-edge solutions for franchisors that make them more profitable, unlock strategic bandwidth, and boost store sales.”
- Gary Liskovich, CEO and Co-founder of Harmonyze
“Harmonyze helps my team be more efficient and focus on strategic work. It has enabled us to get ahead of countless risks, and will save us millions in the next few years.”
- Jonathan Fornaci, President and Chief Operating Officer at The Picklr
