North East software firm Wordnerds has secured fresh funding of 拢1.6m to ramp up work on its technology.
The Gateshead-based business uses AI to train computers to understand unstructured text, with organisations such as Sainsbury鈥檚, M&S, Network Rail and the Department for Work and Pensions all now using Wordnerds鈥� product.
Big organisations are tackling the task of understanding vast amounts of customer feedback from sources such as customer surveys, emails, contact centre calls, forums and social media 鈥� and collating and making sense of the information is a herculean task.
Wordnerds turns the data into data-driven insights, combining artificial intelligence and behavioural science to pool the data into rapid, in-depth reports and dashboards, which help companies to find the root cause of customer issues in real time.
拢720,000 of the 拢1.6m investment comes from two of Northstar Ventures鈥� funds, with 拢160,000 from the Northstar EIS Growth Fund and 拢560,000 from the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund.聽
The remaining funds are from early-stage investors, Stephen Zinser and Leigh Cresswell, and a 拢521,000 grant from Innovate UK鈥檚 Future Economy Investor Partnership programme.
鈥淣orthstar first invested in Wordnerds back in June 2019. They supported our team and our product through our first few years of rapid growth and have sustained us all along our journey with perspective and practical advice,鈥� said Pete Daykin, CEO, Wordnerds.聽
鈥淎s we enter a period of strong growth, we are excited to approach a new period of scaling with Northstar Ventures.
鈥淲e are also delighted to welcome new early-stage investors whose experience will be invaluable on the next leg of our journey. With some of the region鈥檚 keenest tech and software minds involved with the company at all levels we are confident we have created something remarkable at Wordnerds.鈥�
Tom O鈥橬eill, investment manager, Northstar Ventures, said: 鈥淲e are very pleased to be providing further investment into Wordnerds, including a commitment from the new Northstar EIS Growth Fund. The team at Wordnerds has developed a sophisticated, market leading AI-enabled product which provides rapid and incisive analysis to consumer facing businesses.聽
鈥淭hey have an impressive list of customers and have grown significantly since our initial investment. This round of funding will help them to grow their commercial and product development teams, which will enable Wordnerds to scale at pace. We鈥檙e excited to work with the team on the next stage of their development.鈥�