Edinburgh start-up behind AI tech for 5G secures six-figure funding

An Edinburgh-based start-up using artificial intelligence to improve efficiencies for 5G network providers has raised £750,000 in pre-seed funding.

Net AI’s funding round was led by Techstart Ventures, with Nauta Capital, Creator Fund, Old College Capital and Edinburgh Technology Fund also participating.

The spin-out from the University of Edinburgh will use the cash injection to expand its team, accelerate its Microscope product development and market introduction, and protect company intellectual property.

Paul Patras, chief executive and co-founder of Net AI, said: “We live in a world with an insatiable appetite for data. With Microscope’s AI and cloud-based technology, we are offering an alternative route to future 5G services: one that is cheaper, more efficient and better for the planet.

Paul Patras, chief executive and co-founder of Edinburgh-based Net AI.

“We welcome the support of Techstart Ventures and our other investors who will enable us to grow our team, develop our technology, and ultimately reach more network providers.

“This funding is just the beginning in terms of the opportunities for us to partner with mobile network operators and telcom original equipment manufacturers (OEMs),” he added.

Pratima Aiyagari of Nauta Capital added: “We are very excited to add Net AI to our Nauta Labs investment portfolio. Their one-of-a-kind AI technology builds on years of research conducted at one of Europe's top computer science research centres and is the first to perform traffic decomposition via deep learning, which enables large-scale classification of traffic streams in real or near real-time.

“This will be a game changer for the management of tomorrow's cloud-based virtualized mobile networks.”

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