Anita Schjøll Brede (born 198*) is a Norwegian entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Iris.AI.

Early life

She grew up in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

, Norway.

Education

She received her Bachelor in Theatre and Communication studies. She also studied a master's degree in entrepreneurship at

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

in Gothenburg. She studied later at the

Singularity University Singularity Education Group (using the public names Singularity Group, Singularity University or SingularityU) is an American company that offers executive educational programs, a business incubator, and business consultancy services. Although ...

in California.

Professional career

Before starting Iris.AI in 2015, Anita lead the startup Pinexo. Iris.AI is her fourth own startup. Iris.ai was founded at

Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

. Iris.AI raised $2.4 million in December 2017. Users include Denmark's

Leo Pharma LEO Pharma A/S is a multinational Danish pharmaceutical company, founded in 1908, with a presence in about 100 countries. Its headquarters are in Ballerup, near Copenhagen The company is 100% integrated into a private foundation owned by the LEO F ...

, the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

and universities in Norway. Admission costs the universities around 250,000

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

a year. Her key connections are Christine Spiten,

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg wa ...

Odd Reitan Odd Reitan (born 11 September 1951) is a Norwegian billionaire businessman. He was born in Trondheim. He is co-owner and CEO of the Reitan AS. Early life Reitan is the son of "single-store grocers", Ole Reitan and Margit Aarhaug. Career Reitan ...

, Johann Johannson and

Arne Wilhelmsen Arne Wilhelmsen (15 June 192911 April 2020) was a Norwegian billionaire businessman, the co-founder of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Royal Caribbean Cruises. Wilhelmsen was born in June 1929, and earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard Univers ...

. She was a board member of the

Ulstein Group Ulstein Group is a group of companies that focus on various marine-related industries, but is mainly known for its shipbuilding and ship design activities. The largest unit is ''Ulstein Verft AS''. The company's head office and primary operations ...

in 2018. She was also a board member of Katapult Group and NORA Startup (Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium). Iris.ai was announced as a Top 10 Semifinalist in the AI XPRIZE.

Awards

She is listed on "The World's Top 50 Women in Tech 2018" and "Europe's Top 50 Women in Tech 2018" by the magazine

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

. She has delivered a

TEDx talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

in 2016. In total, she did 2 TEDx talks. She is alumni of

500 Startups 500 Global (previously 500 Startups) is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California ...

and Tech Crunch Startup Battlefield.

References

External links

iris.ai, the website of the companyYour Science Assistant (TED Talk) 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brede, Anita Schjoll Living people 1980s births Norwegian women business executives Chief executives in the technology industry Norwegian women company founders