Protege has successfully closed a $10 million seed funding round to develop a platform aimed at resolving the training data challenges faced in AI development.
Protege Secures $10 Million Seed Round to Launch Innovative AI Training Data Platform
San Francisco, CA — Protege, a nascent firm specialising in AI training data, has announced the successful closure of a $10 million seed funding round and the launch of a platform designed to mitigate one of the most significant challenges in artificial intelligence development: accessing appropriate training data. The round was led by CRV, with additional investments from SV Angel, Liquid 2 Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, and notable individuals including Adam D’Angelo and Travis May.
The central problem Protege addresses is the considerable difficulty and time involved in sharing and accessing training data. The exchange of such data typically involves intricate negotiations surrounding intellectual property, technological compatibility, and governance issues. These complexities often pose barriers that can delay AI projects by months or even years. Protege’s platform is engineered to streamline this process by offering data holders the tools they need to safely share their data for AI applications, while enabling AI model builders to confidently find and access this data.
Protege was founded earlier this year by Bobby Samuels and Travis May. Samuels brings substantial expertise from his previous ventures, whereas May, the CEO of Shaper Capital, co-founded and served as the former CEO of LiveRamp and Datavant.
The platform places special emphasis on high-impact data types which have previously been proprietary and largely inaccessible for external use. This approach is designed to address the training data bottleneck that affects multiple industries involved in AI development.
Key Quotes:
Bobby Samuels, CEO and Co-Founder of Protege, remarked, “The lack of availability of training data is the biggest bottleneck in AI today. By creating a platform for data holders to allow controlled access to their data assets, we enable the construction of critical models in a faster and safer way.”
Echoing this sentiment, Travis May stated, “I believe this is one of the biggest data opportunities of all time. Five years ago, there was no market for training data. Today, every major LLM and thousands of novel AI applications are looking for training data – but there is too much friction in this process. Unlocking seamless and controlled exchange of training data will help unleash the power and benefits of AI to the world.”
Saar Gur, General Partner at CRV, also expressed strong optimism, saying, “The training data opportunity is one of the largest I’ve seen in my career. We’re incredibly excited to partner with the Protege team in pursuing this massive vision.”
Protege’s vision is expansive, aiming to alleviate data sharing issues across various sectors without being confined to any single industry. The widespread difficulties related to training data affect a multitude of AI applications, from healthcare and finance to autonomous vehicles and beyond.
In conclusion, the significant injection of capital and the introduction of Protege’s platform are set to potentially catalyse advancements in numerous AI projects by making crucial training data more accessible and manageable. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, solutions like those offered by Protege could play a pivotal role in accelerating innovation and implementation across the board.
Source: Noah Wire Services
