PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vianai Systems, a Human-Centered AI platform and products company, today announced that it has raised $140M in a Series B financing from SoftBank Vision Fund 2* and several industry luminaries. Vianai will use the new capital to accelerate the delivery of its human-centered AI platform and products to enterprises worldwide.
For many enterprises, AI has not lived up to its hype. AI's true potential originates from the ability to put humans at the center of technological solutions. Vianai’s pioneering human-centered AI approach amplifies human judgment thus empowering domain experts with AI tools to deliver powerful business value. Vianai has already delivered successful business outcomes to numerous world-leading enterprises.
“Vianai’s human-centered approach to AI has been critical to the design of an advanced early warning system for our underwriters. The system, which extracts actionable insights from non-traditional data sources, has the potential to drive significant business value for us, and our customers,” said Dr. Torsten Jeworrek, Member of the Group Executive Board and Global Head of Reinsurance at Munich Re. “With Vianai as an innovation partner, Munich Re is on a path towards breakthrough digital transformation of our core business, and that of the industry as a whole.”
Vianai’s customer success, cutting-edge technology and management expertise has the company poised for growth.
Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Co-Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, said, “I am pleased to join Vianai as an advisor, as Vishal and his team work to make human-centered AI a reality for businesses. I believe that AI is made by humans, intended to behave by humans, and, ultimately, to impact human lives and human society. Its success depends on how humans and AI work together.”
“With the AI revolution underway, we believe Vianai’s human-centered AI platform and products provide global enterprises with operational and customer intelligence to make better business decisions,” said Deep Nishar, Senior Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “We are pleased to partner with Dr. Sikka and the Vianai team to support their ambition to fulfill AI’s promise to drive fundamental digital transformations.”
“We have been working hard to build a better AI platform, one that puts human judgment at the center of systems that bring vast AI capabilities to amplify human potential,” said Dr. Vishal Sikka, Founder and CEO of Vianai. “I am grateful for the trust and the confidence that our customers and our investors have put in us as we help enterprises achieve great, purposeful transformations with human-centered AI.”
Vianai investors include Jim Davidson (co-Founder of Silver Lake), Henry Kravis and George Roberts (co-founders of KKR), and Jerry Yang (founding partner of AME and co-founder of Yahoo! Inc.). Joining Vianai’s previously announced advisory board is Dr. Fei-Fei Li (co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI).
About Vianai:
Vianai Systems, Inc. is a Human-Centered AI platform and products company launched in 2019 to address the unfulfilled promise of enterprise AI. Vianai began with $50 million in seed investment and has received an additional $140 million in a Series B equity round in June of 2021. Vianai’s customers include many of the largest and most respected businesses in the world, to which it delivers AI, ML and data science platforms and products. Vianai helps its customers amplify the transformation potential within their organizations using a variety of advanced AI and ML tools with a distinct approach in how it thoughtfully brings together humans with technology. This human-centered approach differentiates Vianai from other platform and product companies and enables its customers to fulfill AI’s true promise.
*As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.
