Element AI

Last updated
Element AI
Company type Private
Industry Artificial intelligence
FoundedOctober 2016;7 years ago (2016-10)
Headquarters
Montreal
,
Canada
Parent ServiceNow
Website www.elementai.com

Element AI was an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. [1] [2] It was funded by the Government of Canada for CAD$5 million, [3] and raised US$102 million independently, [4] [5] [6] [7] before being acquired by ServiceNow. [8] [9] Prior to its acquisition, it had collaborated with Amnesty International, Twitter, Singapore Management University, the Port of Montreal, LG Electronics, and others to release several studies. [10] [11] [12] [13]

History

Element AI was founded in October 2016 by Jean-François Gagné and co-founders Yoshua Bengio, Anne Martel, Nicolas Chapados, and Philippe Beaudoin, along with Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer of Montreal venture capital fund Real Ventures. [1] [4] [14] In early 2017, the company acquired the entire team of [15] an open source machine learning database. It then raised US$102 million from US investors in a series A round led by the San Francisco venture fund Data Collective and Microsoft Ventures. [4] [5] [6] [7]

In December 2018, the Government of Canada gave a loan of up to CAD$5 million to Element AI with the goal of creating 900 new jobs. [3] They later hosted a conference on the effects of AI, with Justin Trudeau and Mounir Mahjoubi establishing a global panel to study the effects of AI. [16] In December 2018, Element AI also partnered with Amnesty International and released a study measuring online abuse against women in politics and journalism on Twitter. [10] [11]

Element AI had partnerships with GIC, Singapore Management University, the Port of Montreal, LG Electronics, among others. [12] [13] At the Port of Montreal, Element AI was working to predict how long trucks will wait to drop off or pick up goods at the port. [13]

The company's first standalone product Underwriting Partner, an AI-assisted insurance underwriting workflow software, was released in September 2019. [17] [18] In December 2019, they released Knowledge Scout, a platform for data set management in manufacturing companies. [19]

On November 30, 2020, ServiceNow, a Californian cloud-based IT services company, announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Element AI. [8] [9] The company was running out of money and options and sold for US $230 million. [20] [21]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Can This Startup Break Big Tech's Hold on A.I.?". Fortune . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ Metz, Cade (October 26, 2016). "AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio Is Launching Element.AI, a Deep-Learning Incubator". Wired . Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Element AI receives $5 million loan from the Canadian government". BetaKit. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Marotte, Bertrand (June 14, 2017). "Montreal's Element AI gets record $102 million boost from U.S. investors". Montreal Gazette . Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Element AI Raises $102 Million as New Learning Model Sparks Interest". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Element AI, a platform for companies to build AI solutions, raises $102M". TechCrunch . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Revolution AI: Why everyone wants in to Montreal's deep-learning hub". Financial Post . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Silcoff, Sean (November 30, 2020). "ServiceNow is acquiring Element AI, the Canadian startup building AI services for enterprises". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Lunden, Ingrid (November 30, 2020). "Once touted as a technology world-beater, Montreal's Element AI sells out to Silicon Valley giant". The Globe And Mail . Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Element AI partners with Amnesty International to study online abuse". Montreal Gazette . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Twitter Is Indeed Toxic for Women, Amnesty Report Says". Wired . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Element AI partnering with Singapore companies to accelerate product development". BetaKit. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 "LG, Element AI Plan to Detail AI in Consumer Devices". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Global AI Software Provider - Element AI". Element AI. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Element AI acquires MLDB.ai open source machine learning database | BetaKit". 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  16. ↑ "Canada, France Plan Global Panel to Study the Effects of AI". Wired . Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  17. ↑ Hotchkiss, Caitlin (September 23, 2019). "Element AI announces first product for the insurance market". Betakit. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Element AI for Insurance". Element AI. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  19. ↑ Kirkwood, Isabelle (December 3, 2019). "Element AI launches newest standalone product, turning data into actionable insights". Betakit. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Element AI sold for $230-million as founders saw value mostly wiped out, document reveals". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  21. ↑ "Element AI hands out pink slips hours after announcement of sale to U.S.-based ServiceNow". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 2020-12-19.
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