• Afiniti

  Participated · Equity · Apr 2017

  Afiniti uses patented artificial intelligence to identify subtle patterns of human interaction and pair individuals based on behavior to increase the success of customer-service interactions. Its technology is deployed across industries including healthcare, telecommunications, travel, hospitality, utilities, insurance, and banking. Afiniti reports over 150 deployments in major enterprises, has optimized more than 600,000 agents and 700 million customers, and analyzes about 1.3 million interactions daily to refine its pairings. The company says its pairings drive measurable increases in enterprise profitability. Afiniti’s leadership says momentum is building as it continues to add new clients around the world and pursue accelerated growth. To support that growth it has engaged credit partners to access new capital and strengthen its market position. Afiniti supplies an AI layer that analyzes customers and call‑agent interactions to route callers to the agents most likely to produce better outcomes, a process the company calls “behavioral pairing.” It integrates with customers’ CRM, sales and telephony systems and measures results by running continuous on/off experiments, taking a share of the revenue delta as its pricing model. Afiniti says it has operated in dozens of countries (22 referenced) and holds dozens of patents with more pending. The company reports roughly 100% revenue growth each year over the last five years and has started to tip into profitability. Afiniti has increased its market visibility recently as it considers an IPO after filing confidentially and instead raising at the potential IPO valuation. The team includes well‑connected advisors and local leaders that have helped global expansion. Afiniti builds AI software that matches customers to the sales or service agent most likely to close a sale, using data from as many as 100 databases. The company says customers see a 4–6% average revenue lift (long-term average expected ~4.5%) and cites examples such as $70M in incremental revenue for T‑Mobile. It initially served large telecom and insurance call centers, expanded into medical and banking, and is now targeting retail with proposed facial‑recognition pairings (no retailer has adopted that yet). Afiniti runs continuous on/off experiments to measure impact and charges fees competitive with alternative customer acquisition costs. The company has about 700 employees, including roughly 500 engineers, and sources say revenues are growing at a 100% run rate. Afiniti confidentially filed for an IPO and was valued at $1.6 billion after an $80M fourth round; it is not expected to be profitable this year but aims for profitability in its fiscal 2018 year beginning in June.

• Nujira

  Participated · Equity · Apr 2014

  Nujira Ltd develops Envelope Tracking (ET) technology and Coolteq ET chips aimed at improving performance and efficiency in 4G smartphones and other wireless devices. The company closed a $20M funding round to provide working capital for a production ramp of its Coolteq chips and to fund continued development of its long-term product roadmap. To support product development and US customers, Nujira will open a new design centre in Santa Clara, California to develop next-generation ET ICs and provide local applications and operations support. Founded in 2002 and led by CEO Tim Haynes, the company employs over 60 people and is engaged with all major smartphone chipset vendors. Nujira expects its Coolteq.L ET chips to be designed into 4G smartphones in 2014. Nujira develops Envelope Tracking (ET) technology and its Coolteq® power modulator solutions to enable power-efficient 3G/4G wireless transmitters for cellular terminals, infrastructure and digital broadcast systems. The company is led by CEO Tim Haynes and has design centres in Cambridge and Edinburgh. Nujira says it is engaged with 16 major smartphone chipset suppliers to embed its ET technology into their reference platforms and expects its Coolteq.L technology to be designed into 4G smartphones in 2013. The company intends to use new capital to continue developing its technology and to reinforce the value of its ET patent portfolio. Nujira has previously been backed by NES Partners, Environmental Technologies Fund, Amadeus Capital Partners and Climate Change Capital Private Equity. It recently raised additional funding to support these product and IP objectives. Nujira develops Coolteq wideband Envelope Tracking and High Accuracy Tracking (HAT™) modulator technology to dynamically control RF power amplifiers and cut transmitter waste heat. The company says its technology reduces power consumption in smartphone transmitters by 30–50% and is shipping silicon. Nujira has built an extensive patent portfolio covering Envelope Tracking and efficient wideband PA transmission systems. Management aims to install Coolteq into 800 million 3G and 4G devices by 2016 and to make the technology the power-optimisation choice for smartphones and other data-oriented devices. The new funding will be used to expand the handset engineering team to support product development and engagements with leading global handset vendors. Nujira is headquartered in Cambourne, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Nujira, based in Cambridge, UK, develops technology to dramatically improve the energy efficiency of cellular network base stations and digital broadcast transmitters by reducing waste energy in the RF Power Amplifier circuit. The company commercialises its Coolteq products. Proceeds from the funding will be used to accelerate development of its handset technology, support expansion into a new market, and support general commercial development in the Cellular Infrastructure and TV Broadcast sectors. CEO Tim Haynes said the new investment provides the opportunity to continue commercialisation of Coolteq products and to promote the technology into new markets. The article cites existing investor support from Bank Invest, 3i, Amadeus and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital alongside the new investor.

No current team members are available.