An artificial intelligence (AI) company that grew out of research at Waterloo Engineering has secured $9 million in funding to grow.
Acerta Analytics was founded in 2016 by Greta Cutulenco, a graduate of the software engineering program, Sebastian Fischmeister, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and engineering PhD student Jean-Christophe Petkovich.
Greta Cutulenco is a co-founder and CEO of Acerta Analytics.
Based in Kitchener, the company announced in a recent media release that the new funding, which was led by OMERS Ventures, will allow it to expand into new markets, increase its workforce and improve its products for automotive manufacturers.
Acerta uses AI to analyze vast amounts of data generated during vehicle production and operation to give engineers insights to optimize quality, safety and reliability.
“Every automotive engineer has dealt with issues during assembly or testing, but few have the ability to use their production data to predict when and where those issues will occur and prevent them,” said Cutulenco, the CEO.
Acerta operates in Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. It plans to expand its presence in the European and Japanese markets in the coming year.
Cutulenco said the coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand for its platforms by putting pressure on auto manufacturers to digitize processes, cut costs and increase efficiency.