PRESS RELEASE — NextStage, an investment platform listed on the Euronext Paris regulated market, is pleased to announce an investment supporting international development in YSEOP, an Artificial Intelligence gem and one of the world’s leading firms in the field of Natural Language Generation (NLG).
Created by Alain Kaeser in 2007, based on research he began at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure (ENS) Cachan, YSEOP is a key player in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and one of the world’s leading NLG specialists, working primarily with Fortune 500 companies. Following investments in YSEOP made via its unlisted vehicles in 2017 and 2018, NextStage AM has decided to continue its support for the company’s development by reinvesting, via its listed platform NextStage, in the amount of €8.3 million.
NextStage AM’s previous investments have enabled YSEOP to structure the company and accelerate the rollout of its NLG solution, particularly in the banking and financial services market. The human species has created more data in the last year than since the beginning of human history, making processing and returning relevant results all the more important. YSEOP has seen a real acceleration in the use of its flagship tool and is already working with major financial institutions in France and abroad, such as BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and the financial rating agency Moody’s.
YSEOP has also moved into the pharmaceutical market. At the recent VivaTech trade fair they announced a global strategic partnership with Sanofi to deploy NLG within the Group in view to automating the regulatory documents required when bringing new drugs to market. Given the positive initial feedback, YSEOP is looking to extend its solution to other stages of drug development.
YSEOP’s successful entry into the pharmaceutical market illustrates the ability of its next-generation NLG platform to capitalize on customers’ business knowledge and implement AI best practices to provide accelerated response to specific use cases.
YSEOP now has close to 80 employees, mainly in France, the United States, and Colombia. Begun several years ago already with strong support from Craig Vachon, Senior Partner at NextStage AM in the United States, development on the U.S. market will be accelerated thanks to this new round of fundraising. By 2022, YSEOP expects to generate nearly half of all revenue in the United States.
“We are impressed with all the work the YSEOP team has done under the leadership of CEO Emmanuel Walckenaer and founder Alain Kaeser. We also appreciate the company’s strong growth and accelerating rollout of its NLG solutions, which make sense in a world overwhelmed by data. We are proud to continue supporting the ambitions of this French tech gem, and its development on the American market. Like the financial industry, the fast-changing healthcare market also holds significant potential for YSEOP, even as the company continues to forge significant partnerships such as the one established with Oracle,” affirmed Grégoire Sentilhes, Chairman and CEO of NextStage AM.
“We are proud of NextStage’s confidence in YSEOP and the continuation of our shared adventure. The understanding NextStage shows of the challenges at play on the artificial intelligence and natural language market, as well as their knowledge of the US market, confirm that they are the right partner to support us in our entrepreneurial journey. Artificial Intelligence is a technology that transforms the approach to markets for companies and their organizations. We intend to continue honing and deepening our expertise in this field on behalf of our key accounts in order to realize the market potential of transforming data into natural language,” explains Emmanuel Walckenaer, CEO of YSEOP.
