AI data training platform Kili Technology raises $25 million

AI data training platform Kili Technology has raised $25 million in a new funding round. This is just six months after a seed investment of $7 million. The Paris-based startup helps companies transform raw data into high-quality, AI training-ready annotated data. With the fresh capital, the company is aiming to ramp up recruitment efforts as well as accelerate market presence in the US and Asia.

The potential residing inside artificial intelligence is massive, but as we’ve all become accustomed to at this point, the roadblock often lies in the training. As leading AI industry figure Andrew Ng notes, “80% of machine learning work is spent on data preparation, thus ensuring data quality is the major task of AI teams.”

In opposition to a traditional focus on model preparation, Kili Technology has created the first data-centric AI training platform, allowing for iterations to happen much faster on the AI training and improvement cycle.

“Our solution integrates state of the art AI annotation technology, such as interactive segmentation that reduces by 50% data annotation time and reaches 94% precision,” explains CTO and co-founder Edouard d’Archimbaud.

While founded in 2018, the company reports that the past six months have been particularly successful. The banking and insurance, defense, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare industries have taken notice, with “hundreds” of AI scale-ups and data-science teams utilising their service.

Balderton Capital led the Series A investment, with initial investors Serena Capital and Headline following on. Angel investors Olivier Pailhes (Aircall), Dimitri Sirota (BigID), and Chris Schagen (Contentful) also participated.

"It's no coincidence Kili attracted a large Series A round just 6 months after raising its Seed. Today every industry has to incorporate AI models in their products to stay competitive. AI is made of code and data. When customers realised the high velocity and quality of the AI models made with Kili, the client portfolio immediately soared,” concludes Headline’s Jonathan Userovici.