Inside Protex AI: $54M raised, 300% growth, Fortune 500s closed

Dan Hobbs, CEO & Co-Founder of Protex AI, joins SaaStock’s Alex Theuma to break down how his startup is transforming factory safety using AI and how they scaled to triple-digit growth with an enterprise-first GTM motion.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How Protex AI went from YC to 300% YoY growth.
Why they moved fast into the U.S. (and why you should too).
The AI tools Dan actually uses to drive team efficiency.
How to close enterprise clients.
Dan’s biggest founder lessons and what he’d do differently.
What investors are looking for in 2025.
Top tier advice from Pitbull aka Mr. Worldwide…. Yes, really.

Watch (or listen) below or read on for key takeaways.

Protex AI: The story so far

Dan and his co-founder Ciarán O’Mara didn’t set out to build an AI-powered workplace safety software. They were working on vision tech and looking for the right problem to apply it to. After hearing about a tragic accident in a factory – a worker crushed by a forklift – they started to look into how these accidents happen. With help from Ciarán’s aunt (a factory manager) and CCTV footage, they started to see that these weren’t freak accidents, rather there were warning signs there all along.

From here, they realised that by using the existing camera infrastructure in warehouses and factories, combined with AI technology, they could spot the micro-behaviours that lead to accidents, and stop them before they happen.

Fast forward to today:

Protex AI has raised $54M.
Growing at 300% year over year.
Working with major clients like DHL and Amazon.

According to Dan, this growth has been helped by market sentiment towards AI and a sharp focus on enterprise sales.

The enterprise GTM motion driving 300% YoY growth

In the early days, it’s easy for founders to chase a foot in the door. But for Dan, Protex’ success has come from understanding their business model and, in his words, “knowing where to play”. He said:

“I think where a lot of companies can fail…is trying to get quick wins under the belt. So they might go to a lower down person in the company who doesn’t have much power, but they’ll be able to sign off maybe like a 10k contract…but it’s not sustainable.”

Instead, he focuses on what he calls “the ugly sale”—building real relationships with senior decision-makers who can move budgets and drive adoption across entire operations.

This approach was inspired by none other than Pitbull, with his lyrics:

“Ask for money, get advice. Ask for advice, get money twice.”

Dan’s used that mindset to land meetings with senior enterprise leaders and build trust fast. It’s now a core part of how Protex operates with a 50/50 mix of inbound and outbound, but all driven by relationships, not hard selling.

Using AI to build efficient operations

Dan was quick to point out that while relationships close deals, founders should still be using AI to make the whole team more efficient. Efficiency, not headcount, is what smart founders are doubling down on (and what investors are looking for).

“You see companies like Mistral AI, like Perplexity, building multi-billion dollar companies with 40–50 people. That’s never happened before because scale has always been associated with growth of teams.”

At Protex, AI allows them to get more done without burning out or bloating the team.

“VCs are looking at companies who are tracking efficiency metrics. So gross margins and revenue per head.”

AI tools the Protex team uses to boost efficiency

While Ciaran leads on AI innovation at Protex, Dan shared some of the tools he and the team use every day to stay efficient:

For research:

“We use Claude a lot… just to speed up learning about different companies, different clients.”

For sales:

“We use a system called Nooks… which allows you to make like 10 dials instead of one at a time.”

For notes and context:

“I use Granola… It’s an awesome note-taking tool. I use it for everything.”

They’ve also experimented with dev tools like Devin, which can handle level-one engineering tasks and free the team to focus on other work.

Why they prioritised boots on the ground in the US

“One mistake in my last company? Not moving to the US fast enough.”

Despite building out of Ireland, Dan knew the biggest market was always across the Atlantic. And he’d learned in a previous company that delaying expansion to the US could halt growth.

This time, he moved quickly, set up in Boston, and made sure to spend real time on the ground with customers — in actual warehouses. That proximity to users and their environment made a difference you just can’t replicate on Zoom.

Now, 80% of Protex’ customers are in the U.S., many of them in the factory-heavy regions like Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.