DefinedCrowd, a US-based developer of technology that helps train artificial intelligence systems, has completed an $11.8m series A round backed by corporates Mastercard, EDP, Sony and Amazon.
Payment services firm Mastercard, energy utility EDP, electronics producer Sony and e-commerce firm Amazon joined Evolution Equity Partners, which led the round, Kibo Ventures, Portugal Ventures and Busy Angels, while Amazon invested through its Alexa Fund.
Founded in 2015, DefinedCrowd has created a training data platform that utilises human intelligence, automation technology and machine learning to help data scientists gather data when working on enterprise AI products or systems.
The series A funds will go to enhance the company’s products, which include AI community Neevo, and to increasing its headcount.
Dennis Smith, Evolution Equity Partners’ founder and managing partner, is joining DefinedCrowd’s board of directors in conjunction with the round, which follows a $1.1m seed round in 2016 featuring Alexa Fund, Sony’s Innovation Fund and Portugal Ventures.