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Element AI
Element AI was a private Canadian, artificial intelligence|artificial intelligence company founded in October 2016 in Montreal, Quebec. The firm developed enterprise AI software and became part of ServiceNow in 2020.
Key facts
Founded: 2016, Montreal, Canada Founders: Jean-François Gagné, Yoshua Bengio, Anne Martel, Nicolas Chapados, Philippe Beaudoin, Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer Industry: Artificial intelligence software Funding: US$102 million Series A; CAD$5 million Canadian government loan Acquired: 2020 by ServiceNow
History
Element AI began in 2016 when entrepreneur Jean-François Gagné joined forces with AI scientist Yoshua Bengio, Anne Martel, Nicolas Chapados, Philippe Beaudoin and investor Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer. Early 2017 saw the acquisition of the MLDB.ai open-source team and a record US$102 million Series A led by Data Collective and Microsoft Ventures, strengthening Canada’s AI ecosystem.
In December 2018 the Government of Canada provided a CAD$5 million loan to support 900 planned jobs. That year the company partnered with Amnesty International and Twitter to study online abuse against women, and launched research initiatives with Singapore Management University, the Port of Montreal and LG Electronics. The first commercial products arrived in 2019: Underwriting Partner for insurance risk analysis in September, followed by Knowledge Scout for manufacturing data management in December. On 30 November 2020 Element AI agreed to a US$230 million sale to ServiceNow, closing its independent operations.
Activities
The company translated deep-learning research into tools for finance, logistics and manufacturing clients, while publishing studies on AI ethics and governance with global academic and non-profit partners.