For a hitherto relative unknown, scoring a $113M Series C at this time is bound to get some attention. The amount of attention is bound to grow upon learning that the company is backed by, and works with, the likes of bp, its AI technology is based on IP from NASA and Caltech, and it looks like the closest thing to the vision for AI in the real world today.
Beyond Limits[1], an industrial and enterprise-grade AI technology company active in energy, utilities and healthcare, today announced a milestone Series C funding round with $113 million closed and another approximately $20 million committed. This round is led by Group 42[2], a prominent AI and cloud computing company, and bp ventures[3], an existing two-time investor and customer of the company.
ZDNet caught up with Beyond Limits CEO and Founder AJ Abdallat to discuss business, technology, and applications.
From NASA to bp
Beyond Limits (BL) was founded in 2014[4], and states that its mission is to create automated solutions with human-like powers of reasoning that amplify the talents and capabilities of people. The mission statement goes on to add that BL specializes in complex challenges in extreme environments.
This is a direct reference to the company's origins in NASA's JPL AI Reasoning Laboratory[5]. As Abdallat pointed out Caltech[6] operates JPL, and as part of Caltech's technology sharing and commercialization program, the technology used to drive autonomous decision-making beyond the reach of human experts in space is also used to address similar needs on Earth.
BL aims to support "mission-critical systems with acute situational awareness in real-time, predictive analytics, domain expertise at the edge, and instantaneous human-like reasoning to make informed decisions and take meaningful