Ambyint, a Canada-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for the oil and gas industry, has raised $11.5m in a series A round featuring industrial product manufacturer General Electric and energy company Statoil.
The corporates, which participated through their respective corporate venturing subsidiaries, GE Ventures and Statoil Technology Invest, were joined by Mercury Fund, which led the round, and fellow venture capital firm Cottonwood Venture Partners.
Originally known as Pumpwell Solutions, Ambyint was founded in 2004 and is developing technology that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve artificial lift performance at oil and gas wells, meaning liquids flow more smoothly out of the ground and production is increased.
Desikan Sundararajan, leader of Statoil’s Research and Technology team, said: “The application of artificial intelligence for artificial lift optimisation offers a unique opportunity to not only enhance production but also improve overall production efficiency.
“Furthermore, this level of automation will also provide operators with active real-time monitoring of wells and likely reduce the number of site visits, thereby minimising health, safety and environment risks.”
The funding will be used to expand deployment of Ambyint’s technology in the US and Canada, and to support research into automated oil and gas well operation.