Inbenta on Track for Millions in Funding
April 12, 2016
Make sure you note the spelling of the company’s name. It is i-n-b-e-n-t-a. The company is involved in artificial intelligence and semantics. There is a Wikipedia entry here. I read “Barcelona AI Startup Inbenta To Close €10 Million Series B.” The write up points out that Inbenta opened its doors in 2005, which makes the company more than 10 years old. Nevertheless, the article describes Inbenta as a start up. The company generates more than US$8 million in annual revenue and is growing at a reported 60 percent each year. That is remarkable. Few companies engaged in search and content processing have been able to generate robust growth in the current economic thrill ride.
The write up reported:
Inbenta offers support features to businesses that want to make search better and smarter on their website. They do this through semantic search and artificial intelligence, and according to themselves decrease support costs and increase conversion rates.
The company’s Web site states:
Intelligent search for your customers. Provide search results that actually make sense. Let your customers find what they are searching for on your website. Reduce support cost and increase conversion.
These statements suggest that Inbenta is in the ecommerce search space which embraces companies like Endeca, EasyAsk, and SLI, among others.
I noted these technologies which are part of the Inbenta solution:
- Artificial intelligence
- Natural language technology
- Semantic clustering.
The company’s most recent news reports a solution called “hybrid chat.” The idea is that an “AI powered virtual assistance combined with human live chat [sic].” I think of this approach as “augmented intelligence.” Palantir has used this human-software method with some measure of success. Will Inbenta work a similar magic and hit a multi-billion dollar valuation as Palantir did?
What interested me was that Inbenta like Coveo has positioned search and content processing as a customer support solution. Inbenta seems to be nosing into the self service niche in ecommerce.
Those investing in Inbenta will be eager to watch the company’s growth rate because today’s investment in a 10 year old start up could grow into the next big thing. Inbenta’s apparent success might, however, spark some interest from Palantir-type companies to compete in this augmented service sector.
Stephen E Arnold, April 12, 2016
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