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Element AI

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Element AI
Company typePrivate
IndustryArtificial intelligence
FoundedOctober 2016; 8 years ago (2016-10)
Headquarters
Montreal
,
Canada
ParentServiceNow
Websitewww.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, Agile Data Solutions and others to release several studies.[10][11][12][13]

History

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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]

References

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  1. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "Element AI receives $5 million loan from the Canadian government". BetaKit. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "Element AI Raises $102 Million as New Learning Model Sparks Interest". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Element AI, a platform for companies to build AI solutions, raises $102M". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Revolution AI: Why everyone wants in to Montreal's deep-learning hub". Financial Post. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Silcoff, Sean (November 30, 2020). "ServiceNow is acquiring Element AI, the Canadian startup building AI services for enterprises". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  9. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "Element AI partners with Amnesty International to study online abuse". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Twitter Is Indeed Toxic for Women, Amnesty Report Says". Wired. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Element AI partnering with Singapore companies to accelerate product development". BetaKit. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c "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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