AI and Docs—Mintlify’s $18.5M Funding Proves the Perfect Match!

Mintlify, the AI-powered software documentation platform, recently secured $18.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Y Combinator. This brings the company’s total funding to $21.7 million, a testament to its rapid growth and potential in a highly competitive space.

At its core, Mintlify aims to streamline the often time-consuming process of producing software documentation. What started as a project to simplify the founders’ own lives has blossomed into a full-fledged platform that assists developers in writing guides, API references, SDK documentation, and even creating AI-powered chatbots to explain the inner workings of their software.

Mintlify was founded by Han Wang and Hahnbee Lee, who met while studying at Cornell University. Wang, with a background in information science, had already founded two startups during his time as a student—FoodFul, which developed livestock monitoring systems, and People, a platform for customer communities. After People was acquired by Bettermode, Wang briefly stayed on as part of the team before leaving to join Bain Capital Ventures as a partner. However, the idea for Mintlify quickly took shape after Wang and Lee decided to tackle the persistent challenges of producing clear, concise, and dynamic software documentation.

Wang and Lee saw a gap in the market. As Wang explained, “In the 2010s, companies like Stripe, HashiCorp, and Twilio raised the bar on developer content. It became clear that great documentation wasn’t just a nice-to-have—it was a competitive advantage.” But despite these advancements, creating and maintaining documentation remained a laborious task. Inspired to change this, the duo built Mintlify to not only simplify the authoring process but also to leverage AI for smarter, more adaptive documentation.

What makes Mintlify stand out in the crowded landscape of documentation tools is its ability to automate significant portions of the process. It integrates directly with codebases, automatically generating documentation and ensuring that content stays up-to-date. The platform even uses AI to scan for outdated docs and suggest improvements based on user engagement data. This innovative approach is already making waves, with an impressive client roster that includes the likes of Anthropic, Zapier, Perplexity, and Fidelity, among 3,000 other companies. Currently, the platform reaches over 1.5 million developers per month, and Wang projects that number will keep climbing.

Of course, no technology is without its critics. Some early users of Mintlify pointed out that the AI-generated comments can sometimes be redundant or even incorrect when dealing with disorganized codebases. One user, Tim Anderson from DevClass, noted instances where the same factual error was repeated multiple times in a document. While these critiques are valid, Wang remains optimistic about the future of AI-driven documentation. “The role of content is changing with AI,” he stated. “It’s not about replacing human writers, but about making the process more efficient.”

Indeed, Wang envisions a future where AI helps technical content evolve in real-time based on product changes, support inquiries, and user feedback. He also hinted that Mintlify will soon introduce more advanced features that will allow AI to take an even more active role in content creation and personalization, making documentation not just more useful but also tailored to individual developers’ needs.

This AI-powered vision comes at a time when other companies are also trying to rethink documentation. Competitors like Documatic and Guidde are developing tools to produce changelogs and video guides using AI. Yet Wang believes Mintlify’s approach gives it a distinct edge. “Every piece of documentation needs an AI chatbot now,” he said, “but the future goes much deeper. Documentation will power support, chatbots, and even generative AI models themselves.”

Mintlify’s recent funding will be used to expand its team, which currently consists of just 11 people, and to accelerate product development. “We’ve always been focused on operating lean and efficiently,” Wang said, explaining that while Mintlify didn’t necessarily need to raise funds, the decision to do so was strategic in order to fuel further growth.

For Mintlify, this is just the beginning. With over 20 million developers now interacting with its content each year, the company is poised for even greater expansion. As Wang put it, “It’s been a crazy journey, but it’s just the start. We’re incredibly excited about what’s next.”

With a growing customer base and the backing of top-tier investors, Mintlify is well on its way to becoming a key player in the AI-driven documentation space.