Seattle-based startup firm DefinedCrowd raised $50.5 million in the recent Series B financing round. This Amazon.com Inc.-backed startup company provides data set collection intended to further enhance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in specific speech programs.
Among the key investors for the Series B investment round were existing supporters of the company, such as Amazon Alexa Fund, Bynd Venture Capital, EDP Ventures, Evolution Equity Partners, IronFire Ventures, Kibo Ventures, Mastercard, Portugal Ventures, and Sony Innovation Fund.
In addition to these existing pool of investors, newly added investors are Hermes GPE and Semapa Next.
Founded by chief executive officer Daniela Braga in 2015, DefinedCrowd is a startup company that gives and leverages data set collection to various businesses, particularly to help train artificial intelligence in speech-based programs.
DefinedCrowd also provides specifically curated for voice and text data to a number of huge names in the industry, including the likes of BMW AG and Mastercard Inc.
For the aforementioned clients, the company uses data set technology and AI to represent a diverse range of audiences, dialects, and ages for these respective firms, reports Bloomberg.
Following the company’s boost in funding, the company intends to widen its reach by expanding its current product and services range, as well as doubling the number of its employees for the year. As of writing, Bloomberg reports that the startup has 268 people.
More than adding more employees and boosting its product selection, DefinedCrowd is also gearing up to open more offices beyond Seattle, Lisbon, Porto, and Tokyo, notes GeekWire. However, the company is still operating remotely due to the virus pandemic.
In a statement to Tech Crunch, co-founder and CEO Braga said, “The demand for data has consistently been growing over the last couple years – companies are more and more aware of the impact that data has on their systems and have been looking for more languages and domains that weren’t considered five years ago.”
In talking about the market opportunities, Braga highlighted inclusivity as well as more multilingual assets as the main drivers for this particular demand. Moreover, Braga also told Tech Crunch that there has been an increased demand for data set technology in consumer-ready products and services.
With the boom in the industry, Tech Crunch states that the startup firm has managed to successfully gain a 656% revenue increase over the years.
This increase in revenue positions DefinedCrowd in a unique way to head towards an IPO. In a statement to Bloomberg, Braga said the business hopes to provide continued support to AI via its data curation to help individuals “communicate with machines the same way we do with humans.”
