Artificial intelligence can be applied to so many industries, but where it might first start to make money is in the financial world.
Singapore-headquartered Advance.ai said on Monday that it has raised $80 million in Series C funding. The startup helps financial institutions make smarter decisions.
Temasek-backed Pavilion Capital and Chinese Gaorong Capital led the round along with GSR Ventures, Vision Capital and others.
Founded in 2015, Advance.ai uses data analysis to help institutions evaluate their clients. Proceeds will be used to add social media information into its data analysis methodology and to expand its business across the region's financial markets.
AI really can help financial institutions make better decisions and make more money. Organisations with AI expect to see a 41% improvement in competitiveness within three years, according to a survey that Microsoft Asia and IDC Asia released on Tuesday.
More than half, about 52%, of Asia-Pacific’s financial service institutions have already started to use AI in their operations. This figure is ahead of other industries in the region.
“The digital economy has resulted in demands for organisations to reinvent themselves such that they remain relevant to their customers. To do so, financial organisations need to address three key imperatives – how to leverage data and AI for their operations, how to build and maintain trust among their customers, and how to tap on partnerships to drive innovation to stay ahead of the game,” said Connie Leung, senior director of financial services at Microsoft Asia.
Advance.ai is using big data to build risk control systems in Southeast Asia. And it is developing its platform with cutting-edge technology such as bioassay and facial recognition. The company is also applying such methodology to company credit ratings.
The startup claims to have served more than 300 corporate clients so far and said that its business has quintupled in size since September last year.
Companies still face challenges in maximising AI’s ability to accelerate their transformation. “We need to look at AI deployment and development from a more holistic perspective,” said Victor Lim, vice president of consulting firm IDC Asia, together with the release of the survey. Not only is AI supporting financial institutions, but the company and staff need to help AI build deeper knowledge and provide better services to people.
That is why Advanced.ai provides all kinds of risk management tools for individuals as well as companies. It wants to make the financial industry smarter as a whole and to promote its AI solutions to more countries within the Asia-Pacific region.
