The Stockholm-based tech company collects vast amounts of data about what people write online, and analyze data with an advanced language tools. With the technology has Gavagai past including predicted the outcome of the Eurovision Song Contest.
For nearly two years ago, the company took out SEK 15 million in venture capital, to begin to capitalize on its product. But the big försäljnigslyftet came.
The CEO Malin Stråhle left about the same time the company to become CTO at Schibsted Publishing in Sweden.
Later, a new management team in place, with Klarna former chief technology officer David Craelius as CEO. He in turn recruited a new sales manager, Per Laredius, Bonnier Magazines.
Now, a number of private investors, among others, Dan Andersson, who founded the casino company Maria Bingo, entered by 10 million in new venture capital . This time it is the Company’s focus entirely on building a customer base.
“Now we have trimmed long as the item so it is time to focus on sales. I am delighted that we have received Per Laredius as sales and marketing. Per is an outstanding seller and his background in Bonnier and the media suits us perfectly. Our goal is to go the break even already by year-end, “said David Craelius.
That this capital round would be a new turn in the same melody is not David Craelius with.
“The previous rounds can be seen as an A-rounds where the work so far has been to find a market for the research behind the product. Now we begin to understand more about the market, so this round can be seen as an early B round in which our focus now is to increase sales, “he says.
Gavagais software learns grammar, synonyms and increase vocabulary by hand. According to David Craelius it takes only four days for the program to learn a new language and it can read 30 million documents per day.
“We do automatic text analysis on a scale that was previously unimaginable. We can for example listen to everything that is said on the refugee issue, and not just summarize what is said so our customers do not have to try to read everything, but also measure the general mood of society, “he says.
Among the company’s customers can be found including analytical company United Minds, but also government agencies, public relations companies, and various financial institutions.
The aim now is therefore to make a profit already in a few months. Last year, however the company a loss of SEK 13 million and net sales at the lower edge of eight million. It may thus seem like a daunting task.
In addition, investor interest seems to have cooled down considerably in the last two years. In the last year round low valuation of the company at 200 million. According to documents from the Companies Registration Office, which Breakit has noted, the company is valued by the new round to 62 million.
The valuation of the company, which was founded by computer scientists Magnus Sahlgren and Jussi Karlgren, has thus fallen by about 140 million in two years.
Even so, David Craelius is optimistic.
“We got the product for developers last spring and now even our web app to be ready for digital sales. The goal is for customers to get started themselves so that we can scale internationally without the costs get out of control, “he says.
The image above is from Mostphotos.
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