The artificial intelligence developer has secured seed capital of undisclosed size to commercialise its AI-based neural network platform.

Intellegens, a UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) spinout from University of Cambridge, has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from investors including the institution’s tech transfer office, Cambridge Enterprise. Angel investor Graham Snudden also contributed to the funding round. The seed round was secured alongside a separate grant from government-owned science funding agency Innovate UK, which will be used to developed an online portal. Founded in January 2017, Intellegens has developed an AI-based system to create neural networks – programs that learn by example – from incomplete or fragmented sets of data. The technology has applications in several industries, including healthcare, for example in drug discovery, autonomous vehicles and retail. The spinout is based on research by Gareth Conduit, a research fellow in the Theory of Condensed Matter Group at Cambridge, where he specialises in materials, drugs and quantum phenomena. He has been named chief technology officer of Intellegens. He co-founded the spinout with Ben Pellegrini, a specialist in big data and cloud-based platforms. Conduit said: “This new approach to applying AI to incomplete databases enables us to analyse significantly more data than traditional AI approaches, and to develop models that would otherwise be impossible. “The approach is particularly relevant to experimental data where we can combine a small number of well-characterised records – typically created empirically at significant expense – with big fragmented databases, enabling us to infer high-value information. “Having gained commercial validation with research partners in fields as diverse as, aero engines, semi-conductor and battery technology and oil and gas, we are very excited about the broad range of commercial opportunities available.” Elaine Loukes, investment manager at Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds, said: “The Intellegens approach has already delivered impressive results, and we believe that it could provide compelling benefits in many other AI applications.”

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