Techspert.io

Digital Catapult’s Machine Intelligence Garage programme has led to techspert.io raising £3.76 million in series A funding for its artificial intelligence-driven solution for finding experts.

Cambridge-based techspert.io was founded in 2016 by Managing Directors Graham Mills and David Holden-White, who were frustrated with how difficult it could be for businesses to connect with the right experts at the right time to inform commercial decisions. They recognised the limited capabilities of traditional expert networks and listings, and wanted to develop a solution for improving the speed and accuracy of knowledge exchange between leading global expertise and the business community.

The result was techspert.io, the first AI-driven technology for mapping the world’s expertise. It uses machine learning to trawl the trillions of data points available online, and pinpoint the most qualified and relevant expert in any given subject or domain, enabling rapid and precise matching of specialists to business needs. techspert.io’s connection platform then conveniently facilitates knowledge exchange through one-off conversations, multi-expert focus groups, data reviews and appraisals, or survey-based quantitative research.

Advancing technology and personal development

As a member of Machine Intelligence Garage, the company was awarded a grant of £100,000 credits by Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of Digital Cataptult’s programme partners. This gave techspert.io the computational resources needed to advance their AI search technology.

Jay Cano, VP Engineering, techspert.io said “With millions of expert profiles already indexed, this grant enables us to even further increase the speed and quality of expert insights that we deliver to our clients.”

Being part of the Machine Intelligence Garage has also unlocked collaboration opportunities, and given techspert.io’s team of machine learning engineers access to expertise and resources that have enabled them to continue their own development.

David Holden-White, Co-Founder and Managing Director, techspert.io commented “As well as product development, we really got a lot out of Machine Intelligence Garage. For example, it stimulated thought on how to be more customer-centric in our approach, and on getting customer input rather than relying on internal views. My perspective on pitching has now really changed – it was a very positive experience.”

A successful Investor Showcase

The techspert.io team conducted a successful pitch at the Machine Intelligence Garage Investor Showcase, where they met Nauta Capital, and went on to successfully close funding of £3.76 million, with more to follow.

“We didn’t expect the networking to be so impactful; the interaction with companies on similar journeys was very important, as well as the interaction with the investor community. Real decision-makers from VCs come to Digital Catapult events, and we were able to meet relevant investors and start conversations. Other experiences have not had the same draw,” said David Holden-White.

The Series A funding round was led by pan-European VC Nauta Capital and existing investors including Cambridge Angels, GW Asia Capital, and serial entrepreneurs Zack Feather and John Spearman.

Carles Ferrer, General Partner, Nauta Capital believes that “We found the company’s approach in applying deep tech to solve a global knowledge problem highly compelling.The leadership’s ability to combine strong technical skills with commercial know-how to a large, but static industry, is exactly the type of company we seek to back.”

This investment will help techspert.io’s continuous AI development and its expansion overseas, including the opening of a New York office and expansion into new verticals beyond the health industries and life sciences.