LOS ALTOS — Akridata, a pioneer in Data-Centric AI, announced the completion of its $15 million Series A round led by Venture Capital firms TeleSoft Partners, Accel, and Mobile Foundation Ventures (MFV) Partners.
Akridata also announced the world’s first Edge Data Platform for Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the first AI infrastructure platform in the Data-Centric AI category, Akridata provides a decentralized structure and scalable process to deliver curated, consistent, and relevant AI data sets.
Advanced AI and Autonomy depend on massive amounts of data generated at the Edge to fuel continuous Deep Learning. Akridata was formed in 2018 to solve AI’s Exascale data problem, a requirement to move AI out of experimentation and into real-world production. From automotive and transportation, to retail and healthcare, this need is a major obstacle that prevents AI-enabled products from making it to the marketplace.
“The diverse requirements of ADAS/AV (Advanced Driver Assisted Systems/Autonomous Vehicle) necessitate many elements including deep learning, cloud deployment and in-vehicle services, among others. What ties all these together is data and a massive data challenge,” said Kishore Jonnalagedda, Director of Engineering, Toyota Motor Company North America. “Akridata brings us a comprehensive and novel solution that drives efficiencies, lowers the cost and accelerates our team’s work toward our objectives. We will gain immediate leverage by automating data pipelines from edge locations to the cloud, allowing our data science and product development teams to focus on what matters most: delivering best-in-class ADAS/AV solutions and providing mobility for all.”
The new funding will be used to scale the organization with new hires, especially in engineering and customer success roles, drive further product innovation, and advance Akridata’s go-to-market initiatives to meet the market demand for Data-Centric AI solutions.
“Real-world AI is all about data and solving AI’s data problem is what Akridata was formed to do. We are delighted by the level of interest from the investment community and look forward to scaling Akridata to help take AI out of experimentation and into the broad marketplace,” said Kumar Ganapathy, co-founder and CEO of Akridata. “The trust these prominent VC firms have put into Akridata is a testament to the quality of our engineering, the significance of the business need we are meeting, and the market-readiness of our solution — the Akridata Edge Data Platform.”