Buffalo, N.Y.-based Sentient Science has announced that Toronto-based growth equity firm Georgian Partners will fund $22.5 million in a Series B, growth-stage investment in the company, which currently monitors and provides life-extension actions for 20,000 wind turbines across 200 projects globally, as well as simulates 440,000 bearings and 100,000 gears within its DigitalClone Live software.
According to Sentient Science, the capital funds will be used to provide new technical, security and software capabilities within DigitalClone Live, which is now expanding to operators and suppliers in aerospace and rail.
Hiring plans include an additional 70 employees, including a chief financial officer, vice president of software, software developers, and sales and marketing staff in the offices located in the U.S., Europe and China.
“We incentivize our employees with pre-IPO stock options, so we’re very strategic in who we bring in as partners. We’re very excited and proud to be working with Georgian Partners, who is another important partner on our journey to IPO,” comments Ward Thomas, CEO and president of Sentient Science.
“Ward and his impressive team at Sentient Science have a unique technology and business model that lowers the cost of energy through supply-and-demand integration,” says Simon Chong, managing partner at Georgian Partners. “Their DigitalClone Live software fits perfectly with our thesis area for artificial intelligence, and we look forward to working with Sentient to expand technical capabilities and added value within the core applications.”
This is Sentient Science’s third round of funding since its inception in 2001. Previously, the U.S. federal government awarded more than $30 million in Small Business Innovative Research grants for the development of the materials science-based software.
