AAA Snorkel AI pipes in $35m

Snorkel AI pipes in $35m

Snorkel AI, a US-based developer of machine learning (ML) coding technology, has raised $35m in series B funding from investors including GV, a corporate venture capital subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet.

Venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which included Greylock, In-Q-Tel, Nepenthe Capital, Walden International and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

Spun out of Stanford University in 2015, Snorkel has built a software platform that can help enhance ML and artificial intelligence (AI) applications by labelling data programmatically so models can be trained effectively in order to improve performance.

GV, Greylock and In-Q-Tel joined unnamed additional investors to provide $15m funding for the company across seed and series A rounds disclosed when it emerged from stealth in July 2020.

Alex Ratner, co-founder and chief executive of Snorkel, said: “Our investors are world-class experts and ex-founders of companies focused on enterprise software, developer tools, and AI/ML with previous investments in Appdynamics, Mulesoft, Rubrik and many more.

“We are immensely grateful to them for the help they have provided every step of the way. This round of financing will help us grow the team to pursue our vision of making AI practical for every organisation.”

By Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.