AI Platform Vianai Systems Raises $140M In Series B Funding Round

AI platform and products firm Vianai Systems has raised $140 million in a Series B financing round, the company announced on Wednesday.

The capital was raised from SoftBank Vision Fund 2* and two previous investors, the company said.  

Founded in 2019, Vianai Systems says it helps customers amplify the transformation potential within their organizations using a variety of advanced AI and ML tools. Vianai has already delivered successful business outcomes to numerous world-leading enterprises.

The company is headquartered in California, with 10 of its 40 employees at its research and development center in Herzliya, Israel. Vianai indicated that it was set to double its team in Israel in the next few months following the latest funding round.

“Vianai’s human-centered approach to AI has been critical to the design of an advanced early warning system for our underwriters. The system, which extracts actionable insights from non-traditional data sources, has the potential to drive significant business value for us, and our customers,” said Dr. Torsten Jeworrek, member of the Group Executive Board and Global Head of Reinsurance at Munich Re. “With Vianai as an innovation partner, Munich Re is on a path towards breakthrough digital transformation of our core business, and that of the industry as a whole.” 

Dr. Fei-Fei Li, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, will join Vianai as an advisor. “I believe that AI is made by humans, intended to behave by humans, and, ultimately, to impact human lives and human society. Its success depends on how humans and AI work together,” she said.

“With the AI revolution underway, we believe Vianai’s human-centered AI platform and products provide global enterprises with operational and customer intelligence to make better business decisions,” said Deep Nishar, senior managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “We are pleased to partner with Dr. Sikka and the Vianai team to support their ambition to fulfill AI’s promise to drive fundamental digital transformations.”

“I am grateful for the trust and the confidence that our customers and our investors have put in us,” said Dr. Vishal Sikka, founder and CEO of Vianai. “We are looking forward to helping enterprises achieve a purposeful and fundamental transformation with human-centered AI.” 

Vianai investors include Jim Davidson (co-founder of Silver Lake), Henry Kravis and George Roberts (co-founders of KKR), and Jerry Yang (founding partner of AME and co-founder of Yahoo! Inc.).