Sherpa (also known as Sherpa.ai) is a Spanish

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 ...

company specializing in predictive conversational digital assistants. It was founded by Xabi Uribe-Etxebarria in 2012 and is based in

Erandio Erandio is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The name comes from euskera ARANDIO that means plum plantation or field. In 1415, during the War of the Bands, t ...

and

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

. In 2018, ''Fortune'' magazine included Sherpa in its ranking of the 100 best artificial intelligence companies.

Trajectory

The company was created in 2012 with the conviction to develop a predictive conversational digital assistant based on artificial intelligence algorithms for different companies and to provide consultancy in artificial intelligence. They are based in Erandio ( Vizcaya, Spain) and Silicon Valley (California, United States), and are a

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

/IEC 27001 certified company. In 2016, they obtained $6.5 million in a round of funding from Mundi Ventures and other private investors. In a second round in 2019, they obtained $8.5 million; and in 2021, they secured an additional $8.5 million in funding from Mundi Ventures, Ekarpen, Marcelo Gigliani of Apax Digital, and Alex Cruz of

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

Products

Sherpa's first product was a

mobile phone application A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

of the same name. Their products are predictive conversational digital assistants that learn from the user's context to anticipate their needs. Sherpa uses 100,000 parameters from each user to answer requests. Additionally, they have developed a multi-purpose recommendation system for news, music, and filtering important emails. Among their products are free applications for

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s and tablets such as Sherpa Assistant and Sherpa News which have garnered over 3 million downloads. Sherpa also came pre-installed on

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

smartphones as the default digital assistant, until Samsung Electronics launched Bixby. Focused on

business services Corporate services or business services are activities which combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) ...

, their AI assistants and

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

s are embedded in cars, smartphones, home speakers, and appliances. Sherpa also has agreements with companies such as Porsche and Samsung.

Work team

By 2018, Sherpa had 35 employees, most of whom were experts in artificial intelligence and many with PhDs in mathematics and other disciplines. According to the publication Innova Spain, Sherpa works with researchers and research centers at the

University of Granada The University of Granada ( es, Universidad de Granada, UGR) is a public university located in the city of Granada, Spain, and founded in 1531 by Emperor Charles V. With more than 60,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in Spain. Apar ...

Deusto Deusto, also known as Deustu in Basque and formerly known as ''San Pedro de Deusto'', is one of the eight districts of Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption ...

, the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initially ...

and

Mondragón Mondragón ( eu, Arrasate or ''Mondragoe''), officially known as Arrasate/Mondragón, is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque Country, Spain. Its population in 2015 was 21,933. Economic and historical significance The town is be ...

. Some of their advisors include Alex Cruz, president and CEO of British Airways, and

Chris Shipley Chris Shipley (born January 11, 1962) is an American tech author and analyst. Biography Shipley began her career as a technology writer, and later became executive editor at ''PC/Computing'' magazine, then joined the company's online publishi ...

, who was considered the most influential woman in Silicon Valley according to the San Jose Business Journal.

Tom Gruber Thomas Robert Gruber (born 1959) is an American computer scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur with a focus on systems for knowledge sharing and collective intelligence. He did foundational work in ontology engineering and is well known for his ...

, co-founder and former CTO of

Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...

, joined Sherpa's working group in 2019. One year later,

Joanna Hoffman Joanna Karine Hoffman (born July 27, 1955) is a Polish-American marketing executive. She was one of the original members of both the Apple Computer Macintosh team and the NeXT team. At the time she began at Apple Computer, the Mac was "still a ...

, Steve Jobs' right-hand woman, joined as an advisor.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT: Spanish brands AI accelerators Virtual assistants Technology companies established in 2012 Development software companies

Trajectory

Products

Work team

See also

References

External links