INDIANAPOLIS – Two IUPUI students have launched Vemity, a high-tech business-to-business startup to help companies leverage the data they collect.
Vemity CEO Brandon Boynton says the company’s artificial intelligence-as-a-service is versatile enough to benefit any company with an internet-enabled product.
“It can be used to discover new revenue streams and make companies more competitive,” he said. “Companies can use predictive intelligence to better know what their users will do next, or use AI with their products to add new features and abilities.”
Boynton said a couple of challenges prevent the mass adoption of artificial intelligence.
“First, hiring a data scientist can be expensive. The potential increased revenue may not be enough for company leaders to consider the hire profitable,” he said. “Second, if a company doesn’t have a data scientist, its software developers may not be able to extend their abilities into the realm of machine learning. Vemity is positioned to fill the gap for companies that want to use AI but do not have the resources.”
Boynton said other companies that offer artificial intelligence-as-a-service focus only on providing enterprise-level platforms to large companies. He and his colleagues at Vemity are reaching out to CEOs, chief technology officers and software developers at small and medium-sized companies to empower them to use AI.
“When my colleagues at Vemity and I meet with CEOs and CTOs, we want to show how we can assist them in turning their far-off data science plans into a reality. We want to spend a lot of time with software developers, too: attending conferences, presenting and teaching at meetup groups,” he said. “For Vemity, cultivating relationships with the developer community and gaining its support will set us apart from other companies.”
Vemity has begun its sales phase, and its founders have spoken with Indianapolis- and Chicago-area investors.
“Once our revenue reaches a point where our company valuation is where we want it, we will be launching our seed round,” Boynton said. “Our goal is to raise enough money to hire three to five employees and scale beyond Indianapolis.”
Boynton and Chief Technology Officer Zachary Balda are enrolled in the IUPUI Honors College. Boynton is a sophomore majoring in applied computer science; Balda is a junior studying computer science. Purdue University student Zachary Walters is the company’s head developer.
