IRI, Unilever Ventures Back A.K. Pradeep's New Firm

Unilever Ventures and retail data giant IRI have invested in MachineVantage, a company dedicated to the use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning for marketing and product innovation. The firm was established in 2016 by NeuroFocus founder A.K. Pradeep.

Based in Berkeley, the company uses technology to 'extract product innovations, brand semiotics, creative inspirations, and digital and retail point of sale messaging'. Pradeep sold NeuroFocus to Nielsen in 2011, and another company, SaaS firm BoardVantage, to Nasdaq in 2016. He says MachineVantage stands out in a suddenly crowded field because of its 'deep understanding of the foundational principles driving consumer purchase behavior, combined with unique algorithms that process information consumers imbibe under the threshold of conscious consumption'.

Andrew Appel, IRI's President and CEO, says his firm 'saw an excellent opportunity to integrate MachineVantage's powerful technologies with the resident big data and analytics in IRI Liquid Data'. He adds: 'Companies that apply these exciting new capabilities are going to benefit tremendously from the 'first mover' advantage'.

Unilever Ventures is the venture capital and private equity arm of the London- and Rotterdam-based consumer giant. Head of Ventures Olivier Garel comments: 'We're constantly looking for 'world beaters' for our global investment portfolio. With its expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and its innovative approach to product and marketing innovation, MachineVantage fits that description well, and we look forward to helping facilitate its growth'.

MachineVantage has already worked with several of Unilever's largest brands, and its EVP Consumer & Market Insights Stan Sthanunathan comments: 'A year of working with MachineVantage convinced us of the unique power of their technology and the value of our investment'.

Web site: www.machinevantage.com .