Google AI fund invests in algorithm marketplace startup

Market news | June 23, 2017

By Rich Pell

This is the first public investment by Google’s engineer-led venture capital AI fund, which had previously only been rumored to have existed. According to reports, as part of the deal, Google president of engineering for AI, Anna Patterson, will join Algorithmia’s board.

According to the startup’s cofounder and CEO, Diego Oppenheimer, Algorithmia’s goal is to “help developers build AI-driven applications.” The investment by Google (and others) he says, “is a validation of what we’ve been doing, and the technical aspect behind it as well.”

The company claims that its platform lets developers turn algorithms into scalable web services with a single click, and integrate them into their own applications with less than 10 lines of code. Algorithmia also hosts the web services, makes them discoverable, and enables algorithm developers to get paid for usage.

Currently the company says it has reached more than 45,000 developers and 3,500 algorithms, functions, and models. It plans to use some of the latest funding to expand its algorithmic knowledge and network of universities, as well as its efforts to become a hub for discovering and accessing the latest algorithms, functions, and microservices.

In addition, the company plans to focus on its private cloud algorithm-as-a-service solution, called CODEX. Described by the company as “Elastic Infrastructure for AI,” CODEX is the underlying technology behind Algorithmia.com.

Algorithmia previously raised $2.4 million in seed funding in 2014. The company currently has 13 employees and expects that to grow with the new funding, with plans to expand beyond its Seattle headquarters to to New York City.

Algorithmia