Aussie AI-powered startup secures $16m to take its virtual data scientist global

Sydney-based startup, Hyper Anna, has secured $16 million in funding to fuel a global rollout of'Anna', a virtual data scientist that taps into business intelligence and delivers real-time insights based on natural language requests. The Series A round of funding was led by Sequoia China, with significant investments from Airtree Ventures, Westpac Reinventure and IAG Firemark Ventures. Both Westpac and general insurer, IAG, are early adopters of Hyper Anna and use the platform internally to answer questions about business performance. Hyper Anna co-founder and CEO, Natalie Nguyen, told CMO customers have largely been SSI and in the financial and insurance sectors, but said the product could easily apply to other sectors such as media and technology. "The fact that some of our investors are also our customers gives us great confidence in the company, in ourselves, and the product," she said.