Sherpa
IndustryArtificial intelligence
Founded2012 (2012)
FounderXabi Uribe-Etxebarria
Headquarters
Erandio and Silicon Valley
,
Spain, United States
Key people
Tom Gruber, Chris Shipley, Joanna Hoffman
Websitesherpa.ai

Sherpa (also known as Sherpa.ai) is a Spanish artificial intelligence company specializing in predictive conversational digital assistants. It was founded by Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria in 2012 and is based in Erandio and Silicon Valley. In 2018, Fortune magazine included Sherpa in its ranking of the 100 best artificial intelligence companies.[1][2]

Trajectory

The company was created in 2012 with the conviction to develop a predictive conversational digital assistant based on artificial intelligence algorithms for different companies and to provide consultancy in artificial intelligence. They are based in Erandio (Vizcaya, Spain) and Silicon Valley (California, United States), and are a ISO/IEC 27001 certified company.[3]

In 2016, they obtained $6.5 million in a round of funding from Mundi Ventures and other private investors.[3][4][5] In a second round in 2019, they obtained $8.5 million;[6] and in 2021, they secured an additional $8.5 million in funding from Mundi Ventures, Ekarpen, Marcelo Gigliani of Apax Digital, and Alex Cruz of British Airways.[7]

Products

Sherpa's first product was a mobile phone application of the same name. Their products are predictive conversational digital assistants that learn from the user's context to anticipate their needs. Sherpa uses 100,000 parameters from each user to answer requests.[8][5] Additionally, they have developed a multi-purpose recommendation system for news, music, and filtering important emails.[9][10]

Among their products are free applications for smartphones and tablets such as Sherpa Assistant and Sherpa News which have garnered over 3 million downloads. Sherpa also came pre-installed on Samsung smartphones as the default digital assistant, until Samsung Electronics launched Bixby.[11][12][13]

Focused on business services, their AI assistants and operating systems are embedded in cars, smartphones, home speakers, and appliances.[14] Sherpa also has agreements with companies such as Porsche and Samsung.[12][13]

Work team

By 2018, Sherpa had 35 employees, most of whom were experts in artificial intelligence and many with PhDs in mathematics and other disciplines.[13] According to the publication Innova Spain, Sherpa works with researchers and research centers at the University of Granada, Deusto, the University of the Basque Country and Mondragón.[15][16] Some of their advisors include Alex Cruz, president and CEO of British Airways, and Chris Shipley, who was considered the most influential woman in Silicon Valley according to the San Jose Business Journal.[17][18][19]

Tom Gruber, co-founder and former CTO of Siri, joined Sherpa's working group in 2019. One year later, Joanna Hoffman, Steve Jobs' right-hand woman, joined as an advisor.[20][21][22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ elEconomista.es. "Sherpa, inteligencia artificial española para competir contra Amazon y Google – elEconomista.es". www.eleconomista.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "These 100 Companies Are Leading the Way in A.I." Fortune. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 Jiménez, Marimar (23 January 2019). "Sherpa capta 7,5 millones y negocia otra ronda de unos 17 millones para este año". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  4. ↑ "Sherpa, the Spanish personal assistant, launches an API for its predictive AI with Porsche as 1st customer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  5. 1 2 Morales, Tomás López (25 May 2018). "Siri, ¿cómo es posible que una pyme de Erandio se codee con los grandes de la inteligencia artificial?". EL PAÍS RETINA (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. ↑ elEconomista.es. "Sherpa cierra una nueva ronda de financiación por valor de 8,5 millones de dólares – elEconomista.es". www.eleconomista.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Sherpa raises $8.5M to expand from conversational AI to B2B privacy-first federated learning services". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ↑ "Sherpa.ai, la única española entre las cien más innovadoras en IA". MuyInteresante.es (in Spanish). 21 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  9. ↑ "Sherpa, el asistente inteligente español que convierte en inteligente cualquier dispositivo". El Español (in European Spanish). 13 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  10. ↑ "La Inteligencia Artificial 'made in Spain' de Sherpa amplía su oferta para competir con Amazon y Google en 2019". Europa Press. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  11. ↑ "Samsung preinstalará Sherpa en sus móviles". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 21 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  12. 1 2 Telebista, Euskal Irrati (12 December 2018). "Samsung incorporará la app vasca Sherpa Next en sus dispositivos". www.eitb.eus (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  13. 1 2 3 Jiménez, Marimar (20 June 2018). "Inteligencia artificial española para los coches de Porsche… y otros dispositivos". EL PAÍS RETINA (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  14. ↑ elEconomista.es. "Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria: "La siguiente gran barrera del asistente digital es que informe sin tener que pedírselo" – elEconomista.es". www.eleconomista.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  15. ↑ Jiménez, Marimar (18 July 2019). "La española Sherpa ficha a uno de los creadores de Siri". Cinco Días (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  16. ↑ Palacín, José Tomás (6 March 2018). "Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria, fundador y CEO de Sherpa – innovación en español". innovaspain (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  17. ↑ "El asistente Sherpa apuesta por la inteligencia artificial predictiva". ComputerWorld (in Spanish). 3 November 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  18. ↑ Unidad Editorial Internet. "Las gafas Android, en manos vascas". Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  19. ↑ "Sherpa crea un Consejo Asesor mundial para para tratar el futuro de la IA predictiva". TicPymes (in Spanish). 6 November 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  20. ↑ Zoltan_Tundik (23 July 2019). "Siri Co-Founder Tom Gruber Joins Sherpa.ai as Strategic Advisor". The Blockchain Examiner. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  21. ↑ "Sherpa.ai incorpora a Joanna Hoffman, ex directora de marketing en Apple y mano derecha de Steve Jobs". Europa Press. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  22. ↑ García, Jose (6 March 2020). "Sherpa ficha a Joanna Hoffman, la experta en marketing que trabajó con Steve Jobs en el lanzamiento del Macintosh". Xataka (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
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