QuantCube Technology could raise up to EUR 25m in 2020 - CEO
12 JUN 2018
QuantCube Technology, a French artificial intelligence-based startup providing macroeconomic and financial predictive analytics, will seek to raise EUR 20m-EUR 25m in its Series B funding in 2020, CEO Thanh-Long Huynh told this news service.
To accelerate its international expansion in the US and Asia especially, the French company could seek to attract global strategic players operating in the TMT sector, Huynh explained, adding the company would rebuff any potential takeover approaches.
Since its inception in 2013, the company has received one to two takeover approaches per year, he said, declining to give further details.
Huynh said he holds a majority stake in QuantCube Technology and could lose the majority after the Series B in 2020 but not the control.
The management will stay on board and will keep spearheading the company's international expansion and its upcoming diversification in other sectors like telecoms, insurance, mobility and transportation, he noted.
He named Chinese internet group Tencent Holdings [HKG:0700] as a good example of what kind of player the company would like to attract as a minority shareholder.
Tencent has not approached the company, he added.
The proceeds of the Series B in 2020 would help to launch the commercialization of predictive analysis tools for the insurance sector and traffic congestion management in large cities such as Paris, Huynh noted.
No financial advisor will be mandated for a potential Series B as the Parisian start-up could rely on the network of its current shareholders, the CEO said.
QuantCube Technology announced on 29 May it secured a USD 5m Series A from Moody's Corporation and Five Capital. The financing will help QuantCube Technology expand its global reach and platform development while strengthening its operations, data scientists and technology teams, as previously reported.
Through imaging, data collection and AI, QuantCube Technology provides strategic economic information in the short term for investment strategies, in the medium term for macroeconomic forecasts, and in the long term for the predictions of geopolitical risks, to financial institutions, government agencies and large corporates.
The company's main clients are hedge funds, asset management firms and private equity funds. The CEO named France Central Bank Banque de France as one of its main clients. He declined to give further details.
QauntCube Technology expects to reach a EUR 2.1m revenue in 2018. It posted a EUR 700k revenue in 2017. The start-up has 26 employees and plans to have 50 employees by the end of the year, the CEO said.