Cambridge Innovation Capital invests in Unlikely AI’s $20m Seed round to take fresh approach to AI 

Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the deeptech and life science venture investor focussed on companies connected with the Cambridge (UK) ecosystem, has invested in Unlikely AI’s oversubscribed $20m seed round, to support the company’s development of its ambitious, fresh approach to artificial intelligence (AI).

Unlikely AI was founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe, best known for his role in the development of Amazon Alexa. His first start-up, Evi Technologies (formerly True Knowledge), developed technology for natural language understanding and question-answering. Evi launched a voice assistant with the same name in 2012, which saw millions of downloads in the first few months. The company was then acquired by Amazon, where the technology, team and know-how were used to create, launch, and further develop Alexa – the world-famous AI assistant that saw more than a hundred million devices sold during its first few years on the market. William left Amazon in 2016 and Unlikely AI is his next big venture.

Tunstall-Pedoe comments: “The entire team is very excited about the opportunity that this financing has given us to develop Unlikely AI and its technology, and we are delighted to partner with our new investors.”

Ian Lane, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital, said: 

“We are delighted to be able to support long-time Cambridge Innovation Capital adviser, William Tunstall-Pedoe, as he looks to tackle some of the hardest challenges in AI. CIC was established to enable the world’s leading entrepreneurs to build hugely disruptive global companies, so we are pleased to be co-investing alongside Amadeus Capital Partners and Octopus Ventures to support William and the Unlikely AI team.”

Cambridge Innovation Capital invested in the over-subscribed round alongside Amadeus Capital Partners, Octopus Ventures, Skype founder Jaan Tallinn’s Metaplanet and others.