This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.A crowdsourcing startup from the heart of the Kootenays has used artificial intelligence in survey software designed to help leaders across North America better understand organizations from school districts to Fortune 500 companies. On Thursday, the company will announce it has raised $20-million in venture funding to expand within and beyond North America.
The funding round was led by Toronto’s Information Venture Partners alongside Seattle’s Voyager Capital and returning investor Yaletown Partners Inc. of Vancouver. The company plans to use the capital to boost its sales staff, expand into Europe and get its service to more corporate leaders.“I like to call it the disruption of the focus group,” co-founder and chief executive officer Dave MacLeod said in a phone interview as he walked down a snowy Rossland road.
Organizations can use Thoughtexchange surveys to ask open-ended questions, letting their constituents – such as parents or employees – respond and explain why the idea they have offered is important to them. The respondents are then presented with responses from other people taking the survey and asked to assign them ratings on a scale. Using the AI techniques of machine learning and natural language processing, the software’s algorithms sift out trends.
He likens the situation to a group having drinks at a bar: Everyone might ask for a beer until they hear someone order a margarita and realize they would prefer that. Or, he said, perhaps the initial two ideas might be polarizing – but upon assessing all available options, maybe a round of gin and tonics would bring the group maximum satisfaction.