Element AI Closes Series B – Raises $151 Million To Bring AI To More Companies

The Canadian startup Element AI, based out of Montreal, has recently completed its series B round of funding, raising $151 million dollars to fund their AI expansion goals. Element AI’s goal is to bring the power of AI to companies that aren’t typically likely to use it, making AI available to those who aren’t savvy regarding AI and computer technologies.

Element AI was founded in 2016, and it aims to dramatically expand the use of AI outside of the traditional fields like retail and security. Element AI hopes to “turn research and industry expertise into software solutions that exponentially learn and improve”, focusing specifically on the supply chain and financial services sectors.

According to VentureBeat, Element AI’s successful series B funding managed to accrue over $151.3 million dollars from both old and new investors. The startup plans to invest this money in the marketing of its current product line as well as in the development of new AI solutions.  The CEO of Element AI, Jean-François Gagné, put out a recent press release remarking that the company is excited to start working with their new partners who wish to explore the potential of AI in non-traditional market areas. According to Gagné, Element AI remains fully committed to operationalizing AI, despite it being “the industry’s toughest challenge”.

Although AI is frequently in the headlines, AI applications are primarily found in a few specific fields. Element AI was founded with the idea that AI will be the next major transformative technology, although not every business is equipped to take advantage of it. The disparity between technology companies that are positioned to take advantage of AI and non-tech companies creates a substantial divide between companies who can use AI and those that can’t. Element AI wants to bring AI algorithms to companies that lack the experience to properly utilize AI.

Element AI set out to achieve this by providing consultation to companies that could potentially benefit from utilizing AI, helping them identify areas where they could implement AI solutions. The company has since expanded to offering other services, offering products tailored to specific industries like retail/logistics, financial services, manufacturing, and insurance. The list of specialized products that the company offers is likely to grow, thanks to the substantial increase in funding the company has received.

Element AI is not the only company to try and operationalize AI, with other companies like UiPath creating tools designed to allow companies to automate repetitive tasks. However, Element has definitely been the most successful at bringing AI to a wider section of society.

As reported by CrunchBase, Element AI has worked with many different companies, including Gore Mutual, Bank of Canada, National Bank, LG, and others. In terms of investors, many of their supporters from the series A investment have returned to back the company a second time, including Real Venture, BDC Capital, Hanwha Asset Management and DCVC. Some of the new investors in the company include Gouvernement du Quebec and McKinsey & Company.

According to TechCrunch, McKinsey is a management consultancy company, and though at first glance the company seems like a competitor to Element AI, McKinsey seems to be funneling customers to Element. Many system integrators don’t have the experience with AI needed to ascertain the best uses for the technology, while Element AI has experience with emerging technologies and computing. QuantumBlack, the AI and advanced analytics division of McKinsey, has also established its own offices in Montreal, where they will be collaborating on projects with Element AI.

Element AI also stated in its press release that the company would be using the newly acquired funds to expand its operations across the globe. Currently, the company has approximately 500 employees located in offices around Singapore, South Korea, Seoul, London, and Toronto.

Element AI isn’t the only Canadian AI startup to see recent success. The company CDPQ recently launched its own AI funding initiative intended to advance the commercialization of AI platforms throughout Quebec.