Artificial intelligence startup SparkCognition Inc. revealed today that it has raised $123 million in new funding to expand sales and marketing efforts as well as research and development investments to accelerate its growth.

Investors in the Series D round included March Capital, Doha Venture Capital, B. Riley Venture Capital, AEI Horizon X, Temasek, Alan Howard and Peter Löscher. The round was raised on a valuation of more than $1.4 billion, giving SparkCognition so-called unicorn status for the first time. Including the new funding, SparkCognition has raised $300 million to date.

Founded in 2013, SparkCognition offers a service that allows organizations to predict future outcomes, optimize processes and prevent cyberattacks. The company says its AI platform is designed to analyze, optimize and learn from data, augment human intelligence, drive profitable growth and achieve operational excellence.

SparkCognition claims that its AI, machine learning and natural language technologies lead the industry in innovation and accelerate digital transformation. Pitched as allowing organizations to solve critical challenges, the SparkCognition platform prevents unexpected downtime, maximizes asset performance, optimizes prices and ensures worker safety while avoiding zero-day cyberattacks, those for which a fix has not yet been issued, on essential information and operational technology infrastructure.

“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 chief executive officer of SparkCognition, said in a statement.

The mix is apparently working well for SparkCognition. The company’s revenue has grown 90% year-over-year with bookings increasing by five times. The company’s intellectual property portfolio expanded by 75% over the same period. It didn’t provide specific numbers.

SparkCognition completed three acquisitions in 2021, further expanding into financial services, maritime and renewable energy markets, while also adding computational knowledge graph capabilities to its portfolio. The company also opened its HyperWerxTM facility, a first-of-its-kind 50-acre proving ground showcasing AI at work, from the “internet of things” and robotics to autonomous drones.

Notable clients include Hitachi High-Technologies Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd., Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Dell Technologies Inc. and AkerBP ASA.

Image: SparkCognition