Allan F Beechinor and Niamh Parker, Altada co-founders. Image: Keogh
The Irish AI start-up identified as one to watch will use the fresh funding to create 100 jobs across offices in Ireland, the US and beyond.
Altada Technology Solutions has raised $11.5m in funding led by Rocktop Partners, with Elkstone Partners and Enterprise Ireland also participating.
Rocktop and Enterprise Ireland both backed the Cork company’s €1.3m seed funding round last year. Meanwhile, private Irish firm Elkstone now adds Altada to its portfolio of almost 40 high-growth tech companies including high-flying Irish start-ups LetsGetChecked, Flipdish, SoapBox Labs and Manna.
Founded by Allan Beechinor and Niamh Parker in 2018, Altada offers its clients deep domain knowledge on AI and deep learning as these technologies trigger transformation journeys across industries. In a nutshell, Altada brings the AI expertise that can drive efficiencies so that its clients businesses don’t have to.
The company has secured business in the financial services market, working with asset managers, private wealth management advisers and institutional investors. US-based investor Rocktop is just one of these clients.
“Altada’s AI solutions have given our business the competitive edge in the market with transformational operational and cost efficiencies, such as the reduced cost of processing a loan file from $400 to $25, and reducing the time it takes to process a portfolio from six to eight weeks to 48 hours,” said Rocktop CEO Jason Pinson.
Altada is planning to capitalise on further opportunities in finance, and is also seeing increasing demand for its AI services across healthcare, security and travel.
As well as its headquarters in Cork, the company currently employs 70 people across five offices in Europe and the US. With this latest investment, Altada will grow its international team with 100 new roles created between its Cork, Dublin, New York, San Francisco, Malta and Barcelona offices. It also plans to expand in the US with a new office in Austin, and to make its first move into the APAC region.
“We have reached an important milestone in the growth and evolution of Altada,” said co-founder and CEO Beechinor.
“This funding is indicative of the investor confidence in our successful track record and our unparalleled experience in serving the financial services and security sectors in particular.”
Altada will be hiring across quantum computing, engineering, data science, product development, blockchain engineering, cloud platform management and more.
In the past year, four new executives have joined Altada’s management team, including CTO Denis Canty and chief commercial officer Máire P Walsh, formerly SVP of digital technologies for Enterprise Ireland.
“Our talented team has propelled us to become an emerging global leader in AI,” said Parker, who holds an executive role as chief legal and people officer.
“The use of AI comes with great responsibility, and we are committed to empowering our clients to respond to the uncertainties of today and uncover the opportunities of tomorrow, in alignment with our core values and ethical business practices.”
Altada has been recognised many times as an Irish start-up to watch, including being named Emerging Company of the Year 2021 by Cork Chamber and listed among Enterprise Ireland’s high-potential Irish start-ups for this year. It has also been spotlighted as a Siliconrepublic.com Start-up of the Week.
In the spirit of driving AI advancement in Ireland, Altada also partnered with Tangent at Trinity College Dublin to run an AI start-up accelerator.
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