A synthetic data pioneer has raised £7.3 million in Series A funding to fuel further expansion in the UK, US and Europe.
London-based Hazy’s AI-generated data preserves the statistical quality of the actual data, but contains no real information and therefore eliminates the privacy risk.
Founded in 2017, the UCL AI spinout is built on the belief that privacy by design should not slow down innovation. Its synthetic data can be used as a drop-in replacement for real data with AI/ML development, software testing and data commercialisation use cases.
The investment is led by Conviction, with participation from UCL Technology Fund, M12 (Microsoft), Wells Fargo, Nationwide Building Society, ACT Venture Partners, Terra VC, Evenlode, Logo Ventures, Sarus Ventures and Neva SGR, the Intesa Sanpaolo bank venture capital company.
Hazy’s meteoric rise began with winning the $1m Microsoft Innovate AI prize for the best AI startup in Europe and has gone from strength to strength since. Customers include Nationwide Building Society, Vodafone Group and Wells Fargo. This raise will enable Hazy to continue to grow within the banking and telecom sectors in the UK, Europe and the US.
“The response from businesses to the capabilities of synthetic data has been huge,” said co-founder and CEO Harry Keen.
“Enabling our customers to access and actually use their data unlocks real commercial value. Hazy has been working in the generative AI field since our inception in 2017 and we are excited to see where the space goes.
“This funding will solidify our position as the leading synthetic data provider for enterprises to unlock value through their data and enable us to explore the greater potential of generative AI to produce real results for businesses, with no privacy limitations.
“The rise of generative AI has the potential to revolutionise industries, transform the way businesses operate and realise huge commercial gain. At Hazy we’re developing our product based on this technology and we’re working on an exciting new product initiative that is going to enhance our current offering by harnessing some of the latest developments with large language models.
“Gartner predicts that by 2024, 60% of the data used for AI and analytics will be synthetic, and we’re very excited to be right at the forefront of the synthetic data revolution.”
Will Orde, partner at Conviction, commented: “With generative AI pushing technology into a realm thought to be unique to the human mind, there’s never been a more exciting time for a company like Hazy to remain at the forefront of such innovation.
“Harry and the team have demonstrated immense motivation and potential since the start, with some great achievements to date and an impressive product that enables enterprise firms to unlock the incredible amount of value from their data. We are delighted to partner with them for the next stage of their exciting journey.”