Dutch artificial intelligence startup Send AI Inc. has raised €2.2 million ($2.39 million) from Gradient Ventures LLC, Google LLC’s AI fund and Dutch firm Keen Venture Partners LP to accelerate the development of its AI models and expand into international markets.

Founded in 2021 under the name of Autopilot, Send AI is developing technology that automatically reads documents and extracts key information. The company’s technology is adept at handling complex documents, such as low-quality scans, photographed paperwork and lengthy PDFs.

Send AI differs to others in the AI business in that it has passed on using large, generic AI models such as those from OpenAI’s ChatGPT in favor of using a combination of smaller open-source models. The company’s approach allows it to target high precision in data extraction while also keeping sensitive customer data on its own premises. The different take on AI is influenced by factors such as speed, lower costs and flexibility for users to train their own models.

The choice of using smaller, open-source AI models over larger, generic ones aligns with a growing concern for data privacy and security. By keeping sensitive customer data in-house and allowing users to train their own models, Send AI offers a more secure and customizable solution for businesses.

The company’s platform can be used across various industries, with health insurers the first to adopt it for processing large volumes of claim documents. In industries such as insurance, healthcare and legal services, Send AI’s technology is designed to streamline the processing and analysis of documents by accurately extracting relevant data points and feeding them into appropriate systems.

The funding from Google, through Gradient Ventures, is always a huge boost to any startup, let alone one from The Netherlands. In a release, the company said a decision was made to “cross the ocean to Silicon Valley” to raise funding for growing demand.

Gradient Ventures was founded by Google in 2017 and focuses on early-stage AI and machine learning startups. In addition to funding, the firm also provides technical resources, dedicated access to experts, AI boot camps and mentorships.

Image: Send AI