Eight jobs on way as IT firm wins £700k in funding
A BELFAST IT company is set to create eight jobs after securing £700,000 in funding.
Sonrai Analytics, which specialises in artificial intelligence, in the health industry, said the extra money would help it to deliver “next-generation healthcare”. The company secured the £700,000 from a number of Northern Irish and Irish entrepreneurs and local seed funders, led by Techstart Ventures.
Invest NI also offered the company £48,000 towards the eight jobs in software engineering and data science.
The firm, which was established in 2018 by co-founders Dr Darragh McArt and Deva Senevirathne, is a spin-out from QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University.
It uses artificial intelligence to develop applications that enable healthcare organisations to transform data into visual displays and use analytics to predict future outcomes.
Dr McArt welcomed the injection of new funding. “Having emerged from the thriving environment and state-of-theart bioinformatics facilities at Queen’s precision medicine centre, Sonrai is uniquely positioned to gain insights into healthcare needs and couple this with the application of machine learning and AI to create digital information that improves patient treatment,” he said.
“Sonrai’s technology is already helping healthcare organisations to advance bioscience analytics in the US and Europe.
“This funding is an encouraging milestone that will further boost the development and commercialisation of our company.”
QUBIS CEO Brian McCaul added: “We are delighted to see another commercial opportunity in digital healthcare arising from the Queen’s research base. This funding will secure growth and sustained business for Sonrai in delivering exciting analytical solutions, ensuring traction and employment in key skills for the benefit of the local economy. These are exactly the type of knowledge-intensive jobs that we need.
“That the company is gaining international customers prior to this seed round demonstrates the potential that Sonrai has.”