The advent of artificial intelligence has changed the game for a data company that recently expanded to Houston.
Philip Dutton, CEO of London-based data management firm Solidatus, said the company was adapting to the growing prevalence of AI due to inquiries from its clients and stakeholders.
“Everyone wants the advanced analytics; everyone wants the AI algorithms to be able to accelerate the journey,” Dutton said. “But as data professionals, we know that unless we provide the right data into those tools, the decisions that are going to come out of them aren't going to be optimal.”
Generative AI, which can create text, images and other media forms in response to prompts, is the keystone behind half of all startups that have raised funding at a valuation of $1 billion or more in 2023, according to Pitchbook data. Corporate venture arms have taken note, with Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM), Workday Inc. (Nasdaq: WDAY) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) creating and expanding venture funds and accelerators for the technology.
The boom in artificial intelligence emerged in the year following Solidatus’ expansion to Houston. The company previously served enterprise clients in the Middle East, Asia and Africa but targeted Houston for its North American expansion.
When the company was analyzing potential candidate cities, Houston ranked strongly due to its business presence and multicultural population, Dutton said. Since Solidatus opened the Houston office, it has grown its headcount from five to 20 employees, he said.
“When you're in the U.K., London is your your epicenter — it’s not like you’ve got many other cities to consider,” Dutton said. “That’s very different in the U.S. Houston is a connected city, both in the U.S. and internationally, and that allows us to get to our clients quicker.”
In addition to hiring a team, Dutton said Solidatus has expanded its client base beyond financial institutions to major oil and gas companies and health care organizations based in the Bayou City, though he was unable to disclose specific clients. The city’s focus on business-to-business technology suited Solidatus’ services compared to other tech-focused cities like Austin, Dutton said.
In the next year and half, the company plans to continue expanding its services to banks across the United States, Dutton said. Solidatus also reworked its data lineage product roadmap — which allows companies to structure, visualize and share data flows internally — to make its technology more accessible beyond data professionals. Dutton anticipates the rollout will take place within the next six to 12 months.
“That's really exciting because there’s a whole new set of people that will get to have their roles accelerated,” Dutton said. “Very similar to the AI piece, we want to augment people's ability to do their jobs faster.”
Dutton was recently honored as part of the DataIQ 100 — a roundup of top business leaders in the data industry.
Solidatus’ Houston office is in Common Desk's coworking space at 2500 CityWest Blvd. in the Westchase area. The technology company raised $19.2 million in Series A capital from investors in 2021, led by Albion VC. The Series A round also included investments from Citi and HSBC, Solidatus said.
