CortexQA Investor Pitch Deck

Seed Round | Q1 2026

CortexQA Logo

9 YEARS. ONE MISSION.

Born from the trenches of Enterprise AI.

We didn't just build a product. We distilled a decade of building safety-critical AI systems for Healthcare and Chip Design.

THE NEEDLE & THE YARN

Standard AI finds the needle. We find the yarn attached to it.

Context. Lineage. Truth.

PRIVATE AI THAT NEVER LIES

Causal. Cognitive. Defensible.

THE REALITY: EXISTENTIAL RISK

It isn't just a compliance headache. It's disbarment.

⚠️ Judges are cracking down.

  • Federal Sanctions: Attorneys fined for citing hallucinated cases (e.g., Mata v. Avianca / MyPillow).
  • Disbarment Risk: Massachusetts lawyer suspended for "fictitious citations".
  • Mandatory Certification: Courts now requiring signed "No AI" affidavits.
"To use Standard AI is to risk your license. So they don't."

3. THE SOLUTION: BRING AI TO THE DATA

We don't move the data to the cloud. We move the AI to the secure room.

CortexQA is a physical, air-gapped appliance that plugs into the enterprise network.

Key Capabilities:

  • 100% Air-Gapped: Zero data egress.
  • Zero Hallucination: Guaranteed by Epistemic Firewall™.
  • Causal Reasoning: Answers "Why", not just "What".
Secure AI Appliance

4. TECHNOLOGY: BEYOND PATTERN MATCHING

Standard RAG guesses. Causal AI knows.

We replace probabilistic guessing with deterministic validation.

The Secret Sauce:

  1. Causal Hypergraph™: Maps regulations as immutable rules.
  2. Epistemic Firewall™: 5-layer validation. If it can't cite a source, it stays silent.
Cognitive Engine Architecture

5. WHY NOW? THE PERFECT STORM

Three catalysts are converging to make Private AI inevitable.

  1. REGULATION: EU AI Act & SEC Cyber Rules now mandate explainability. "Black box" AI is a liability.
  2. HARDWARE: GPU hardware is smaller and more affordable.
  3. TRUST CRISIS: High-profile disasters (Samsung Leak, ChatGPT Lawyer) have frozen enterprise cloud adoption.

The market is desperate for a safe alternative.

6. MARKET STRATEGY: THE BEACHHEAD

Total Addressable Market (TAM): $65B+

1. LEGAL (Beachhead)

Target: Am Law 200 & Corporate Legal

TAM: $15B

2. FINANCE

Target: Hedge Funds & Private Equity

TAM: $15B

3. HEALTHCARE

Target: Hospitals & Pharma Records

TAM: $20B

4. GOVERNMENT

Target: FedRAMP & Intel Agencies

TAM: $15B

GTM Strategy Expansion

7. TRACTION

Validated Demand & Technology

  • PRODUCT: Production Ready. 51 API Endpoints. 94% Intent Accuracy.
  • CUSTOMERS: 2 Active Am Law 200 Pilots.
    • Quote: "We were desperate for this."
  • PIPELINE: $2.4M in qualified opportunities.
  • PARTNERS:
    • Ingram Micro: Hardware Logistics
    • NVIDIA: Compute Allocation

8. BUSINESS MODEL

The "Apple for Enterprise AI" Flywheel

We combine high-margin software with sticky hardware.

Revenue Stream Pricing Economics Strategy
HARDWARE $25K - $500K High Switching Cost Physical Lock-in
SOFTWARE $12K - $96K/yr 85% Margin Recurring Revenue
SERVICES $0 - $1M+ Varies Enterprise Integration

Unit Economics:

  • LTV:CAC: > 4.5x
  • Payback: < 10 Months

9. COMPETITION

The Only Safe & Smart Option

Most competitors are stuck in the cloud. We are native to the secure room.

Others are building RAG.
We built a cognitive thinking machine.

Competitive Quadrant

10. FINANCIALS

Path to $100M ARR

Conservative projections (Hardware + Software only). Excludes Services upside.

  • Year 1: $2.1M (Validation & Pilots)
  • Year 2: $5.4M (Scale & Partners)
  • Year 3: $10.5M (Break-Even)

Exit Potential:

Strategic acquisition target for RELX, Thomson Reuters, or Microsoft.

Revenue Growth Forecast

11. TEAM

Born from 9 Years of Enterprise AI

Spun out of Manceps (Est. 2017) — A leader in custom AI for regulated industries.

  • AL KARI (CEO): 9 years building enterprise AI solutions.
  • GARRETT LANDER (CTO): AI/ML Architect.
  • DEBRA QUINN (COO): Operational excellence in regulated markets.

12. VISION

The Operating System for Regulated Knowledge

"Every secure room in the world will have a CortexQA box."

RAISING $3.5M SEED

  • 43% R&D (Patents, Model Training)
  • 29% Sales & Marketing
  • 14% Ops/Legal

Milestone (18 mo): $1M+ ARR and SOC 2 Type II / HIPAA Certification.

Contact: founders@cortex.qa | www.cortex.qa