US-based artificial intelligence (AI) technology developer SparkCognition revealed yesterday that it has raised $24m to close a series B round featuring corporates Verizon, Boeing, Invenergy and CME at $56.5m.
Invenergy Future Fund, an investment vehicle for energy utility Invenergy and an unnamed financial services firm co-led the extension, which closed in the second half of 2017.
Futures exchange CME’s corporate venture capital arm, CME Ventures, also took part in the extension, as did hedge fund manager Brevan Howard Investment and private investors John Chambers and Pankaj Patel.
Founded in 2013, SparkCognition operates an AI platform that provides data-driven analytics for a wide range of sectors including energy, manufacturing, finance, oil and gas, aerospace, telecommunications, defence and security.
Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of telecoms firm Verizon, led the round’s $32.5m first close in June 2017. Aerospace company Boeing’s HorizonX unit also backed the first tranche, together with unnamed additional investors.
SparkCongition had raised $16m prior to the series B round, including $6m from CME Ventures, Verizon Ventures, The Entrepreneurs’ Fund and Alameda Ventures in a 2016 round identified at the time as an oversubscribed series B.
Amy Francetic, managing director of Invenergy Future Fund, said: “SparkCognition brings tremendous value to power and industrial operators through the company’s SparkPredict machine learning diagnostics technology.
“The Invenergy Future Fund is proud that Invenergy and other forward-leaning members of our network are now piloting the technology on nearly 1,100 (wind) turbines across the US.”