Neotas, a provider of online due diligence for private equity firms and other investors, and University of Essex engineers are to develop an AI screening solution to aid investors with due diligence and mitigate risk.
Neotas has been awarded a GBP200,000 grant from Innovate UK towards the first stage of the project.
Neotas uses search techniques to analyse a company or individual’s ‘digital footprint’. It provides advanced insights without invading their privacy. The project aims to make the screening process less labour intensive and automatically identify warning signs without creating false alarms. The incorporation of AI will enable the platform to take account of the context in which words or images are used.
Neotas will work with Professor Ansgar Scherp, a specialist in natural language processing (NLP). The findings will help it develop new services and solutions to help keep firms ahead of the changing regulatory landscape.
Scherp says: “The Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Neotas will focus on the utilisation of a novel combination of natural language processing (NLP) and image analysis to accelerate and automate the collection of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), providing end users with advanced insight into individuals without invading individual privacy.”
Vipul Mishra (pictured), CEO at Neotas, adds: “We’ve been working on our proprietary AI-driven platform for almost three years and have been building in machine learning technology to help pinpoint and mitigate risk, but this partnership with the University of Essex will take that to the next level.
