TheySay, a software spin-out from Oxford University, has secured £1m ($1.51m) from University of Oxford Isis Fund, managed by Parkwalk Advisors, and the IP Group.
The company is developing a text analytics artificial intelligence capable of crunching big data. Its software takes unstructured data, and puts a narrative to it, allowing users and machines to determine what can be derived from it. Text analytics is a market currently estimated to be worth around $2bn globally, and growing at an annual rate of 25%.
The investment comes at the same time as Isis Innovation releasing data which shows that the tech transfer office has had a record breaking year for Oxford. It has supplied 20 companies over the past year with proof-of-concept funding, equalling £2.6m worth of investment. The office is currently managing two seed funds, the University Challenge Seed Fund and the Oxford Invention Fund.
It can also draw on University of Oxford Isis Fund, managed by Parkwalk Advisors. The TTO is in the process of closing its second Isis Fund.
Moray Wright, CEO at Parkwalk, said: “We have again seen huge interest from investors in the University of Oxford Isis Fund II, both because of the high quality pipeline of spin-outs from Oxford and of course the excellence of its research, reflected in the recent REF result.”
