Highlights:

  • The startup intends to help businesses automate administrative work. H claims that its AI models will also target end users.
  • H will help its go-to-market initiatives by forming partnerships with other businesses and robotic process automation suppliers.

The latest startup, H, raised USD 220 million in the seed round to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence models.

The development was revealed recently by the Paris-based company, established under the name H.ai SAS. Accel and other investment firms made investments in the round, along with several significant figures from the IT industry: H mentioned that among the attendees were UiPath Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Amazon.com Inc. Eric Schmidt, the Former Chief Executive of Google LLC, also added his voice.

Charles Kantor, the CEO of H, is a former researcher at Stanford University. The other four co-founders of the business had worked in Google’s DeepMind machine learning lab in key technical roles. They developed AI technologies like AlphaFold, which aid in the better understanding of proteins and other biological molecules by scientists.

H’s founders have hired twenty AI engineers and researchers to assist them in their efforts. According to the company, it is developing foundation models that can handle multimodal data—that is, data that includes text and other elements like photos and audio files. The algorithms will be able to reason, plan, and collaborate according to H.

The startup intends to help businesses automate administrative work. H claims that its AI models will also be focused on end users. This implies that the business might incorporate some models into consumer offerings, like cloud-based chatbots.

“The team unites around a simple yet ambitious mission: to drive the productivity of billions forward. We’re committed to transforming entire industries as well as the everyday human experience, bringing that human-computer tandem into reality and paving the way towards full-AGI,” said Kantor.

H has not disclosed any technical details of its software. According to reports, the startup raised the seed round while showcasing to investors the multi-agent AI software experience of its founders. A machine learning technique called multi-agent AI enables many neural networks to work together on challenging problems.

Investors allegedly contributed approximately 40% of the capital in the form of shares while H raised the round. Convertible debt, which the lender can later convert into shares, would be used to give the remaining funds. According to reports, UiPath, one of the round’s participants, contributed USD 32.5 million.

H will support its go-to-market initiatives by forming partnerships with other businesses and the robotic process automation supplier. With the capital it recently raised, the business plans to buy infrastructure for AI development projects. As revealed recently, H’s long-term objective is to create artificial general intelligence, or AI software, capable of carrying out a variety of activities at par with human performance.