Stradigi AI, a Montréal-based AI solutions provider and research lab founded in 2014, today announced that it has raised $53 million CAD ($40.3 million) in a series A round led by Canadian institutional funds Investissement Québec and Fonds de solidarité FTQ, with participation from Holdun Family Office, Segovia Capital Ltd., Cossette. Inc., and company cofounders Basil Bouraropoulos and Curtis Gavura.
CEO Bouraropoulos said the influx of capital will accelerate Stradigi’s North American expansion, which will include new offices in the U.S., with 50 new positions in research, software, sales, and marketing. Additionally, he says it will bolster development of the firm’s freshly unveiled AI platform, Kepler, on the heels of a recently announced partnership with professional services network KPMG.
“Investissement Québec and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, in addition to all the other amazing investors that contributed to this financing, are great partners for Stradigi AI,” said Bouraropoulos. “As two of the most respected institutional funds in Canada, with diverse portfolios and deep experience with preparing companies for international growth, IQ and the Fonds will bring tremendous value as we execute our strategy to become one of the top three leading platforms in North America.”
Stradigi’s aforementioned Kepler — its flagship software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering — combines software engineering with machine learning algorithms to address enterprise analytics and data science challenges. It’s built on an adaptable environment that leverages a software-meets-service model, where guidance from Stradigi’s research scientists is provided in tandem with solutions deployed via a secure service.
Here’s the gist: Kepler’s data scientists tap one of six AI modules — recommender, prediction, anomaly detection, image and video understanding, natural language, and strategic decision-making systems — to build algorithms that drive revenue or save costs. They’re prebuilt and tested and flexible across multiple industries and use cases, and they can be monitored from dashboards that surface results in real time.
“Investissement Québec is proud to support Stradigi AI’s success and the development of their platform Kepler that can help businesses to cross the chasm from research to production of AI,” said Investissement Québec CEO Guy LeBlanc. “We are committed to investing in Quebec’s thriving AI ecosystem, which is why we feel it is so important to help home-grown success stories like Stradigi AI to expand both here and beyond our borders.”
Fonds de solidarité FTQ vice president for investments Emil Savov added: “We are very pleased to support Stradigi AI as the company continues to execute on its ambitious expansion strategy. Having spent the last few years building its leading platform, Kepler, Stradigi AI is very well-positioned to develop its North American foothold to meet growing customer demand. To ensure the future of the AI sector in Québec, this expertise must be further aligned with commercial and strategic goals, which is one of the reasons the Fonds is investing in Stradigi AI.”
One thing’s certain: Stradigi occupies a lucrative segment of the AI and machine learning market. According to Gartner, enterprise use of AI grew 270% over the past four years (as of January 2019), and it’s estimated that the global enterprise AI segment will reach $9.9 billion by 2023.
Author: Kyle Wiggers
Source: Venturebeat
