Startup Signal AI has raised $50 million in funding to boost its “decision augmentation” platform, which uses artificial intelligence to help companies track important business developments such as changes in customer sentiment. 

Signal AI, incorporated as Signal Media Ltd., announced the funding round today. Highland Europe led the investment with participation from abrdn and several returning backers.

Signal AI didn’t disclose its valuation, but did tell TechCrunch that it’s now worth twice as much as after its previous funding round. The company has raised more $100 million in funding to date. 

London-based Signal AI offers a platform that uses artificial intelligence to collect about 5 million news articles, regulatory filings and other documents from around the web every day. The platform uses machine learning to find useful patterns. After processing is complete, Signal AI makes the information it collects available to clients, who can run natural-language queries to find items of interest.

One of the use cases that the startup targets is customer sentiment tracking. Signal AI can collect customer sentiment signals from across the web and turn them into a dashboard that allows enterprises to track how brand perception changes over time.

Tracking supply chain risks is another way companies can apply Signal AI’s platform, the startup says. The platform’s ability to aggregate large volumes of data from sources such as news articles enables it to identify quickly potential issues affecting suppliers.

Companies’ legal teams can use the machine learning capabilities provided by Signal AI to track regulatory developments. A large enterprise with operations in multiple jurisdictions has to comply with a raft of regulations that vary across regions. Moreover, companies need to adjust to rules as they change over time. The ability to quickly receive information about regulatory changes can be valuable for enterprise compliance teams.

Signal AI’s platform automatically filters the data it collects to remove the need for customers to find developments of interest manually. The platform removes duplicate items and ranks data by importance.

According to Signal AI, its platform is used by more than 700 organizations. The startup counts more than 40% of the firms on the Fortune 500 list as customers, including Google LLC, Bank of America Corp. and consulting giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

“The opportunity is huge, with Gartner predicting that by 2030, Decision Augmentation will surpass all other types of AI initiatives to account for 44% of the global AI-derived business value,” stated Signal AI co-founder and Chief Executive Officer David Benigson. “As the responsibilities of business leaders continue to increase, and the number of key stakeholders continues to grow, business leaders need more help than ever to make informed and confident decisions.”

Signal AI will use the new funding to expand its research and development team, with a particular focus on hiring more artificial intelligence experts. Additionally, the startup has plans to grow its presence in the U.S.

Image: Signal AI