'Soar' wars: Inside two AI startups' messy fight over the same name
Two AI startups, both named Soar, are engaged in a branding dispute after one founder accused the other of copying his company's name and identity. The conflict highlights the challenges of standing out in a crowded AI startup market.
Why it matters
The incident illustrates the intense competition and naming saturation currently facing the AI startup ecosystem.
Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI Stanley Virgint and Henry Langmack's LinkedIn messages started politely enough. Virgint told Langmack to have a "killer time at NYU" on May 17. Langmack asked about Soar, Virgint's AI travel companion startup. "When are you planning on launching?" he asked. "I'm on the waitlist." The following day, Virgint said that he was "dying with fundraise" — he was meeting with investors at the time — and sent his phone number. Langmack launched his own startup the following day — also called Soar. It also promised AI travel services (specifically, flight-booking). And it also had a small plane as its logo, shooting up and to the right. Virgint fired off a multi-paragraph LinkedIn message, calling Langmack's new startup a copycat. "We're asking you to rebrand," he wrote. "Super happy to resolve this quickly." It didn't resolve quickly. "It was a nightmare," said Virgint, who is 26.
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