Narrative Science, a Northwestern University spin-out, receives funding from Central Intelligence Agency-linked investment firm.
US-based robot writing service Narrative Science, spun-out from Northwestern University, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from In-Q-Tel, an investment company founded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Narrative previously held a $6m series A round in 2011, backed by venture capital firm Battery Ventures as the sole participant. Regulatory filings showed Narrative raised $3m last year and a further $550,000 in April this year.
Narrative produces a robot writing service which is already used to produce local sports news and internal financial reports. The latest investment will be used to develop a version of its artificial intelligence engine, Quill, to support the US intelligence community. The platform can be used to transform large and complicated data sets into easy to read prose without human interaction.
Stuart Frankel, chief executive at Chicago-based Narrative, said: “Our ground-breaking technology is revolutionising how organizations make decisions and communicate information from large and disparate sources of data. The strategic relationship with IQT is further validation that Narrative Science is poised to address a pervasive commercial and market need.”
