The company Behavox specializing in AI, invests 35 million for a second office in Montreal, located at the Maison Manulife.

Founder and CEO Erkin Adylov is also moving to the Quebec metropolis. He promises to employ nearly 400 professionals in the field of artificial intelligence by 2021. This second space in Montreal will become a major operational center, while the Headquarters is still located in the city of New York.

Behavox notably develops machine learning programs such as NLP (natural language analysis). Products cost an average of $ 500,000. These are sold to mining companies (such as Anglo American) and oil companies. Behavox also has major banks in its clientele, including SoftBank. The Japanese giant, a particularly satisfied client, recently invested $ 100 million in the Erkin Adylov platform . The former analyst at Goldman Sachs remains the majority shareholder of Behavox with a few key employees of the company.

THINK BIG DATA

The virtual solutions offered document and analyze all intra-company communications: emails, phone calls, memos, calendar notes, everything. The redundant tasks of the sales teams, such as reminders and reminders, are automated.

“It’s like a Google for personal data , ” says Erkin Adylov. “Except that with Google, you start your search based on keywords. Corruption cannot be detected by entering the word “corruption” in a search bar. With Behavox you can look for behaviors. ”

THE VENDOR BOASTING DIRECT TO THE FEATHER

The communications are analyzed by the algorithm, in order to detect any type of harassment, abuse of power, corruption or bribe. This surveillance is based on the principle that what could not be tolerated in the dining room of a physical office has no place in the company’s virtual corridors either.

These types of algorithms are attracting interest from the banking industry , which seeks to counter leaks and detect internal threats. Among its features, Behavox algorithms target bragging or arrogance. The “boasting” would be a reliable indicator of bad prior action. Sellers who congratulate themselves on having extracted more money than was necessary from a client could thus be detected by the algorithm, and then referred to the management team.

The Behavox team has developed nearly 70 similar programs, which include behavior analysis to detect fraud or other criminal activity.

Customer satisfaction is also measured in real time by algorithms, scanning emails, chats, phone conversations and other data in real time to ensure that a negative experience does not lead to disastrous social media criticism.

Behind the scenes analysis of feelings, a feature specific to NLP, does not seem to interest Behavox. “When it’s on social media, it’s already too late,” said Erkin Adylov. “You have to intervene to improve the customer experience while it is going on.”

SOON TO BE LISTED ON THE STOCK MARKET?

With the support of SoftBank, revenues that increased by 130% in 2019 and a new Montreal center of expertise ready to be fully deployed, the company is indeed in high gear. On the phone, the founder estimates that an initial public offering would be possible in three years. This would almost be self-evident, since President Erkin Adylov touts Behavox as “the world’s leading artificial intelligence company” , perhaps generating a red flag in his own algorithm, who knows.