Artificial intelligence has been touted as the way of the future for years. But AI is still in its infancy, and that's one of the reasons big dollars are flowing to startups with promising solutions.
Among them is Austin-based SparkCognition, which has been making waves in the local startup scene since its launch in 2013. Since then, the company has evolved in many ways as it finds new avenues to apply AI to the problems faced by big businesses and the government.
Now the company is poised to accelerate its growth. It announced Jan. 25 it has raised $123 million in series D funding at a $1.4 billion valuation. The company says that's more than double the valuation it reached in its $100 million series C funding round in 2019.
That makes SparkCognition one of Austin's newly minted unicorns, along with the likes of Everly Health, ZenBusiness, Iodine Software and Workrise, which also have valuations above $1 billion.
The new investments came from investors including March Capital, Doha Venture Capital, B. Riley Venture Capital, AEI Horizon X, Temasek, Alan Howard and Peter Löscher. It has now raised a total of about $300 million in venture backing.
"Our AI solutions address core infrastructure challenges, including asset optimization, preventing zero-day cyberattacks, augmenting skill gaps, and enabling climate change initiatives," Amir Husain, founder and CEO of SparkCognition, said in a statement. "This additional capital will enable us to deepen our subject matter expertise, enhance our patent portfolio, and accelerate the diversity of problems we solve for customers, maximizing their return on investment."
SparkCognition declined to disclose its revenue figures. Instead, it has provided growth metrics such as 90% year-over-year revenue growth and a 75% expansion of its IP portfolio. Some of its growth has come through recent acquisitions, including two Palo Alto-based companies – AI development platform Maana, Inc. and renewable energy software maker Ensemble Energy.
The company currently has more than 300 employees. About 70%, or 210 of them, are based in Austin.
SparkCognition plans to hire 150 employees this year – it currently has 48 job openings listed on its website, mostly in Austin or remote.
The new funding also follows the startup's launch of a 50-acre showcase facility it calls HyperWerx, where it demonstrates robotics capabilities and other innovations. In 2000, the company spun out a new business dedicated to government and defense applications called SparkCognition Government Systems. It's operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of SparkCognition. It also formed a joint venture, SkyGrid, with Boeing to guide drones in 2018.
The startup has developed seven trademarked AI platforms to serve its broad swath of customers in the energy, manufacturing, cybersecurity and defense sectors.
