According to an unprecedented study by the District, since 2012 the sector has attracted US$ 839 million through 274 investment rounds; in the last year, these companies raised US$ 365 million
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science focused on creating machines capable of thinking and learning. It is also a broad term, covering a wide range of applications, such as Machine Learning - a tool that makes computers capable of analyzing data, identifying patterns and predicting behavior. These technologies are seen as major trends for the future of business. In Brazil, AI is already the focus of activity for 702 startups. The information is from the Artificial Intelligence District Report, a survey conducted by the Dataminer District, market intelligence arm of the open innovation company Distrito. The study was also supported by KPMG.
The survey divided startups into two categories: Sectors (479) and Functions (223). The former offer specialized Artificial Intelligence solutions, aiming to impact a specific segment, such as Financial Services, Real Estate, Retail, Education, among others. Of these, the Health and Biotechnology area is the one that concentrates the largest number of startups (12.5%), followed by the fields of HR and Personal Management (10%) and Industry 4.0 and Agriculture and Food, both with 9.6% of participation.
“Today, almost all sectors use artificial intelligence to analyze data and identify patterns. With that, startups focused on this segment can develop personalized expertise, according to the imposed need. This factor is decisive for having more and more innovative solutions in each of the main economic activities ”, analyzes the leading partner of KPMG Lighthouse for Analytics, Artificial Intelligent and Intelligent Automation, Ricardo Santana.
The startups classified as "functions" offer services and products for several segments simultaneously. This category has five activities: AlaaS (34,1%), which offers Artificial Intelligence as a service; Business Intelligence & Analytics (30.9%), data management and market intelligence platforms; Chatbots (19,3%), which are intelligent programs that communicate with customers and users interactively; Cybersecurity (9.4%), private network security tools and risk diagnosis; and, finally, the Recommendation System (6.3%), automated recommendation technology for products and services and prediction of customer behaviors.
Since 2012, startups focused on AI solutions have raised US$ 839 million, through 274 rounds. Currently, the year 2020 is the record for investment volume. In the last twelve months, these companies attracted US$ 365 million through 44 contributions. Until then, 2019 had the best result, with US$ 243 million invested in the sector. The biggest investment round took place in the last year, directed at startup Unico, which received a check for US$ 109 million from General Atlantic and SoftBank.
Among the 274 rounds held in companies with Artificial Intelligence solutions, the Pre-Seed and Seed stages were the most recurrent in investments, with 61 and 121 contributions, respectively. Next are the Series A (44) and Series B (22) rounds. To date, only one Series D round has been held in the sector. It took place in 2019, when Resultados Digitais received US$ 50 million from Riverwood Capital and Redpoint Eventures.
“The field of Artificial Intelligence is so promising that, very soon, we believe that it will not be possible to carry out a study like this, in which we try to distinguish in the ecosystem which startups use this technology as a business differential”, points out Tiago Ávila, leader of the Dataminer District. “Soon, asking if a startup makes use of Artificial Intelligence will be the same as asking today if they use the internet. This says a lot about the pace of technological advances that, due to its unprecedented scale and speed, we have naturalized ”, he concludes.
The survey also includes the geographical distribution of startups with AI solutions across the country. Over 90% of them are concentrated in the Southeast (70.2%) and South (22.5%) regions. The remaining companies are located in the Northeast (3.7%), Midwest (3.2%) and North (0.3%) regions. It is worth mentioning that only the state of São Paulo hosts 51.9% of the total startups in this segment. Next are the states of Minas Gerais (9.4%) and Rio de Janeiro (8.1%).
As in other technology verticals, startups that use AI have one of the greatest gender inequalities in the corporate structure, typically led by men, with an average age of 40, mostly from São Paulo. Only 13.5% of the partners of these companies are women.
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