$5 million Series A. That's the number Champion, a Minneapolis-based B2B AI startup, raised this month to push a contrarian pitch into a crowded market: AI that coaches sales reps rather than replacing them.

Jeff Reekers, Champion's co-founder and CEO, frames the bet plainly: "Most of the pitches right now are how AI can replace humans, and that is the exact opposite of what we want to build. We want to empower humans."

The platform identifies a company's most passionate customers using AI, then feeds that signal back to sales teams as lead-scoring and conversation guidance. Siemens, ServiceTitan, and Canva are among the enterprises already using it, according to the company.

What does the product actually do?

Champion's core claim is lead quality, not lead volume. The system analyzes existing customer data to surface buyers who resemble the accounts most likely to convert, then equips reps with talking points tailored to that profile.

"We want our clients to spend more time building relationships and understanding their customers," Reekers said.

No third-party benchmarks on win-rate lift or cycle-time reduction appear in the company's disclosures. The Siemens, ServiceTitan, and Canva names are vendor assertions, not independently measured results.

Who is behind the $5 million?

The round was led by Armory Square Ventures, a Syracuse, New York firm, with participation from Minneapolis-based Bread and Butter Ventures. Champion has raised $10.3 million since launching in 2023, and the company says it expects to break even within 12 months.

The founding team blends sales, marketing, and engineering:

• Reekers: former CMO at Aircall, an AI call center platform
• Gianna Scorsone: co-founder and COO, previously led Aircall's North America division, based in New York
• Courtney Crispin: co-founder and tech lead, former Salesforce engineering executive, based in Indianapolis

Reekers is the only one of the three working out of Minneapolis, despite the city serving as Champion's official headquarters.

How fast is the company hiring?

Four employees joined in the past month. Reekers targets 20 by early next year, with a stated preference for Minneapolis hires. As a remote-first operation with three founders in three cities, the hiring plan doubles as a test of whether a non-coastal HQ can compete for sales and engineering talent.

Why does location matter?

Reekers moved to Minneapolis from New York in June 2020 with his wife and newborn, after 15 years in Manhattan. The Midwest location, he said, was deliberate.

"I wanted to build Champion somewhere other than a coastal technology center so we could really build something unique," Reekers said. "Being a first-time founder, the support and community aspect [in Minneapolis] has been a huge advantage."

The bet is geographic distance from the Bay Area and New York translating into lower burn and a denser local network. The outcome, untested publicly, will show up in the 12-month break-even projection.

What's next?

Champion enters 2027 with $10.3 million in total funding, a 12-month break-even target, and a stated hiring plan to reach 20 employees. The next test of the "human-first" thesis arrives when those hires ship features the company can charge more for.