Sheffield-based start-up Mindtech has announced it has secured £2.8m in a strategic investment round led by Appen, a global data AI company, to support its growth.
Mindtech Global, the creator of the Chameleon platform which uses artificial intelligence (AI) systems to train robots to recognise images, also announced it has formed a commercial partnership with Appen. Through the partnership, the companies will provide a range of real and synthetic images and associated data to the market.
The combined capabilities of the companies, with Appen’s leadership in labeling real-world data and Mindtech’s platform for the creation and management of synthetic data, will accelerate the development of more accurate AI systems.
The latest investment round, which included participation from Appen and existing Mindtech investors, follows a £2.3m funding round in July 2021 led by NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
The previous investment enabled Mindtech to create five new roles, with further plans to double its workforce in the next 12 months.
Sean Hutchinson, Senior Investment Manager at British Business Bank, said: “The progress that Mindtech has made since it was established in 2019 has been impressive. The funding from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance in July 2021 has enabled the company to create five new roles, with plans to double its workforce in the next 12 months now in place. This latest round of investment is a testament to the exceptional talent that we have in Sheffield and the North, and we are excited to continue providing businesses, such as Mindtech, the opportunities to realise their growth goals and expand their global presence.”
Steve Harris, CEO at Mindtech, added: “We’re excited about this strategic partnership with Appen – it’s going to enable more customers to rapidly train their AI systems on scalable synthetic data while complementing Appen’s existing products in real-world data collection, management and annotation. By working in partnership, we’ll further accelerate the development of AI systems that better understand how humans interact with each other and the world around them.”
Mindtech also has an additional office based in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.
