Signal AI Acquires US Data Startup KELP for Reputable Reasons

Be pure. Be vigilant. Behave. (For the corporate world.)

Signal AI has a type of fame game in its sights with the acquisition of US-based data analytics company KELP.

There’s no data on the financial details, but London-based Signal AI describes KELP as an “actionable platform for corporate reputation”.

KELP is based in New York and was founded last year. It provides an AI-powered platform, and its website explains that it can benchmark a user’s reputation against the best (and worst) performers. The tech firm measures up to 150 topics – from “R&D” to “Executive Presence”- across ‘Purpose’, ‘Innovation’ and ‘Performance’ narratives.

David Benigson, CEO of Signal AI, comments: “85% of business leaders say that reputation is a higher priority than margin in the decision-making process. At Signal AI, we’re already providing executives with external intelligence to help them cut through the noise and understand which topics and events are impacting their reputation. Together with KELP, we’ll turn this data into truly actionable insight for our customers.”

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Signal AI offers an External Intelligence Graph, which was unveiled last month, and is a view of an organisation’s external world. Customers include Bank of America, Deloitte, EY, Google, Scottish Power and TalkTalk. Use cases mentioned on its website include PR, ESG and supply chain risk.

Signal AI already has a US team, and KELP’s staff (eight employees are listed on LinkedIn) will join Signal AI as full-time employees, including co-founders Dan Gaynor and Shann Biglione.

Gaynor previously worked in Global Communications at Nike and as a presidential appointee in the Obama Administration, then founded Weber Shandwick’s narrative strategy and analytics practice. Biglione – former Head of Strategy at Publicis Media – worked for and advised brands like GSK, Walt Disney Studios and Verizon.

Signal AI picked up a $50 million (£37.5 million) funding injection last year, which took its total investment to over $100 million (£75 million). At that time, it said it will use this new funding to invest in R&D with a “huge push” on hiring ML and AI engineering staff. The firm mentioned its focus on the US for its growth plans.

The UK-headquartered tech firm was founded in 2013. It also has an office in Hong Kong.

Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton is the Editor of eWeek UK. He has 18 years' journalism and writing experience. His career has taken him to China, Japan and the UK - covering tech, fintech and business. Follow on Twitter @TonyFintech.
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