NBIF Invests in AI-Powered Analytics Startup Eyesover

Social media, online message boards and blogs provide a rich and steady stream of data for market researchers to assess public opinion. But figuring out how to effectively mine this rolling 24/7 focus group has proved elusive, until New Brunswick-based Eyesover came along.

Based on research done at the University of New Brunswick, Eyesover uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to discover and analyze relevant online discussions in real time. This differs significantly from traditional social media monitoring platforms that require users to manual input a wide range of keywords and often return a confusing jumble of irrelevant results.

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) invested $200,000 in Eyesover, leading a financing round totalling $450K in venture capital that included advisory services and conditional funding from the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program. The financing round will be used to refine the product onboarding process and hire additional staff.

“In today’s society, if your market intelligence is not real-time, it’s too old. Understanding the emerging issues in your industry or sector as they start to develop is critical to the decision-making process,” says Craig Leonard, CEO of Eyesover.

“The unique service we offer ensures users have a truly complete picture. Traditional research takes too long to obtain, and most monitoring systems are dependent on user provided keywords, meaning the user will only receive information they are already aware exists. Eyesover picks-up on the unexpected changes in discussions to make sure all your bases are covered.”

The company’s unique algorithms are capable of providing a complete picture of conversations surrounding a given subject by offering supplementary information that could be related but unknown to the user at the time.

In addition to Leonard, Dr. Ali Ghorbani (Chairman), Jesse English (Head of Development), and Abtin Zohrabi (Head of Technology) are the leaders of the Eyesover team.

“It’s important to see companies like this coming out of research institutions to demonstrate the path from applied research to commercialization,” says the NBIF Director of Investments Raymond Fitzpatrick. “The Eyesover team has impressed us since the beginning and we couldn’t be prouder to support them.”