Armilar invests in Automaise
Lisbon, July 31st, 2019 – Automaise, a startup that develops an innovative low-code Artificial Intelligence platform for process automation, raised € 500,000 in a seed round led by the venture builder studio Bright Pixel in co-investment with Armilar Venture Partners, to develop its product and accelerate its internationalization plan. The company's virtual assistants thus gain strength to enter more international markets.
Founded in Braga in 2017 and incubated at Startup Braga where it’s been developing the technology since, Automaise is a platform that allows the fast creation of intelligent virtual assistants that enable companies to automate various customer service tasks and business processes. The solution fits several industries, with special focus on banking and insurance, retail, telcos and transportation & logistics. Automaise's virtual assistants streamline several processes such as bank account management by automating routine tasks, simulating integrated insurance and telecommunication service packages, tracking and changing orders, ticketing systems, social networks, among many other applications.
"We have the right partners for our project's ambition”, says Ernesto Pedrosa, CEO and co-founder of the startup that operates in an industry that is expected to grow 30% year-on-year until 2025 (source: Tractica). "Automaise's platform is developed in Braga for the world, and Bright Pixel and Armilar Venture Partners will support our internationalization strategy through mentoring and leveraging their network, which we are confident will allow us to take our solution across borders”, he adds.
In addition to the innovative solution, Automaise was founded by two very experienced entrepreneurs. Ernesto Pedrosa, who has a strong technological background and has a solid track record in product design and development, both in large companies, such as Microsoft, and startups, joined Carlos Oliveira, founder of MobiComp, a company that was sold to Microsoft.
According to Alexandre Teixeira Santos, co-founder and CIO at Bright Pixel, "Automaise has a perfect fit with our mandate as it explores an emerging technology that is increasingly relevant in the business world (artificial intelligence),spanning multiple industries, which we believe is fundamental for companies to automate processes and become more efficient. The startup stood out for its experienced team, but also for its ambitious and inspiring vision for this project. We see Automaise as a great opportunity to generate synergies, because we see how much value we can add to one another.”
Pedro Ribeiro Santos, partner at Armilar Venture Partners, adds "We recognized in Automaise a great ability to apply very sophisticated technologies, in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing and training of neural networks, in solving a business problem that is very relevant to companies nowadays, which is to deal with the multiple sources and high volume of unstructured communication coming from their customers. We also recognized a very experienced and serious, proven team that very quickly knew how to turn technology into a commercial product - which is not always immediate in technology-based companies. It is a great example of the kind of companies Armilar looks to support with its new investment fund, which we announced last February.”
This investment will also support the expansion of the startup's product and business development team. At the moment, the company plans to recruit more artificial intelligence, software development and marketing experts to join their current team of ten.
Automaise already has renowned clients in banking, insurance, telcos and retail, and other partners, which already allow the company to position itself internationally.
About Automaise
Automaise,founded in 2017, develops an innovative low-code Artificial Intelligence platform to automate business processes, serving different industries, with a special focus on banking and insurance, retail, telcos and transportation & logistics. The company was founded by two very experienced entrepreneurs: Ernesto Pedrosa, who has a strong technological background and a solid track record in product design and development, both in large companies, such as Microsoft, and startups, and Carlos Oliveira, founder of MobiComp, a company that was sold to Microsoft.
About Bright Pixel
Bright Pixel was founded in April 2016 with the goal of investing in technology-based projects. It is a venture builder studio and an early-stage investment vehicle, with two interlinked areas of activity:
- An experienced team of developers, designers, product and business developers, dedicato to supporting early-stage technology-based projects.
- A team dedicated to the investment in startups, with several means through which it supports and invests in early-stage technology projects. Among them, an 8 million euro fund, recently launched to invest in startups with operations based in Portugal.
About Armilar Venture Partners SGFCR, SA
Armilar Venture Partners is Portugal's leading venture capital funds manager. An independent VC with a 19-year-old history, a high-performance track record and an international footprint, Armilar is a deep-tech investor, investing in ICT, HealthTech and CleanTech with a focus on early-stage technology-based companies. Currently, Armilar has a total of about €260 million under management, with five funds deployed typically as lead investor in seed to early-stage deals in companies in Portugal, Europe and the USA. To find out more and to register for news, please go to www.armilar.com.
The Armilar Venture Partners TechTransfer Fund is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. The fund is also co-financed by Fundo de Capital e Quase Capital (FC&QC), managed by IFD - Instituição Financeira de Desenvolvimento, S.A..
