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Afiniti Ltd., also called Afiniti, is an American multinational data and software company. Founded in 2005, Afiniti is focused on developing
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
for use in customer call centers. Afiniti is a unicorn company with a valuation of $1.6 billion in 2017.


History


2005–2016

In 2005, Afiniti was founded in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
by
Zia Chishti Muhammad Ziaullah Khan Chishti (born 1971) is a Pakistani-American investor and business executive. He is the founder of Afiniti and TRG Pakistan, TRG Global. After starting his career as a Morgan Stanley investment banker, Chishti invented the ...
, a former
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
investment banker who had previously co-founded
Align Technology Align Technology is an American manufacturer of 3D digital scanners and Invisalign clear aligners used in orthodontics. It is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. The company manufactures the aligners in Juarez, Mexico and its scanners in Israel an ...
, with the help of his partners at The Resource Group (TRG), Hasnain Aslam and Mohammed Khaishgi of the Kheshgi family. In 2008, the company submitted several patents related to matching caller data with computer models, which were granted in 2014. In late 2016, the company confidentially filed for a potential future
initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
(IPO). Around that time, Afiniti also introduced software to run phone numbers "through a variety of databases prior to when a call center agent picks up the phone." The system referred to around 100 databases to gather information on callers, including from public profiles such as
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. According to ''Fortune'' magazine, the system operated on "the idea that it's possible, using thousands of call records, to determine which agents perform best with certain type of customers."


2017–2018

According to ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', by January 2017, the company had installed its artificial intelligence software in around 150 call centers for several dozen companies, among them
Caesars Entertainment Corporation Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...
and
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. In 2017, the company closed a fourth round of venture funding, bringing in $80 million from investors such as GAM, McKinsey & Co, Elisabeth Murdoch, and John Browne. The round brought the company's total funding raised since its inception to $100 million. Afiniti signed a deal with
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
in September 2017 and Avaya in April 2018. In January 2018, ''Fortune'' magazine included Afiniti on its list of the 100 companies "leading the way in A.I." By June 2018, Afiniti had been active in 18 countries and had 1,000 employees. According to Chishti, the company saw 100 percent revenue growth each year between 2013 and 2017.


2021

In November 2021, Zia Chishti stepped down as chairman, chief executive officer and director following allegations of sexual assault to an employee made in testimony to the
United States House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
. The former UK prime minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
left his role as chair of Afiniti's advisory board following the allegations.{{cite news, title=David Cameron quits Afiniti role after founder accused of sexual assault, url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/17/david-cameron-quits-afiniti-founder-accused-sexual-assault-zia-chishti, work=
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, first=Rupert, last=Neate, date=November 17, 2021, access-date=November 21, 2021, location=London


Services and technology

According to the company, its software uses AI to boost company's efficiency by "predicting interpersonal behavior" between the callers and agents. ''
VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, a ...
'' explains that "when a customer calls into a call center, Afiniti matches their phone number — either
landline A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...
or cellphone — with any information tied to it from up to 100 databases. These databases carry purchase history, income, and other demographic information." Data on customers is collected from the customers and from
data broker A data broker is an individual or company that specializes in collecting personal data (such as income, ethnicity, political beliefs, or geolocation data) or data about companies, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and s ...
s. Afiniti does not charge for the software or service itself, but instead takes a percentage of any proven revenue increases resulting from use of the software.


See also

*
List of unicorn startup companies This is a list of unicorn startup companies. In finance, a unicorn is a privately held startup company with a current valuation of US$1 billion or more, across technology centers throughout the world. Notable lists of unicorn companies are ma ...


References


External links


afiniti.com
Software companies based in Washington, D.C. Software companies of the United States 2005 establishments in the United States 2005 establishments in Washington, D.C. Companies established in 2005