Applied XL Secures $1.5 Million in Seed Funding

Applied XL, a company developing machine learning tools informed by journalistic principles, has announced the completion of a $1.5 million seed funding round.

The startup emerged from Newlab Venture Studio last year and is guided by CEO Francesco Marconi, formerly the R&D chief at The Wall Street Journal, and CTO Erin Riglin, who previously served as the WSJ’s automation editor.

Focus on Life Sciences

Marconi explained that Applied XL initially explored various data and machine learning projects to identify a strong product-market fit.

The company is now concentrating its efforts on the life sciences sector, with a product launch scheduled for broad availability this summer.

The core of Applied XL’s technology is described as “a swarm of editorial algorithms created by computational journalists.”

These algorithms are designed to incorporate the perspective and expertise of journalists, while also addressing concerns regarding transparency and potential bias often encountered in standard machine learning development.

A New Approach to Data Standardization

Marconi drew a parallel between Applied XL and established data providers like Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Just as those companies standardized financial data, Applied XL aims to achieve the same in diverse industries.

The decision to begin with life sciences stems from a recognized need and substantial demand within the field.

Potential clients include competitive intelligence divisions of pharmaceutical companies and life sciences investment firms, who currently face challenges in sifting through extensive databases and managing overwhelming amounts of data.

Update: Marconi clarified the startup’s initial focus, stating that the life science industry currently experiences gaps in information fulfillment from existing data sources.

He highlighted a particular need for real-time context to support decision-making related to clinical development, competitive strategy, and commercialization.

Algorithms Inspired by Journalistic Principles

“Our approach to identifying significant events is to build algorithms mirroring the principles a journalist would employ when investigating a story,” Marconi stated.

Factors considered include study size, patient numbers, and the level of R&D investment attracting attention to a specific drug.

Essentially, the criteria a science journalist would utilize when evaluating clinical trials are being integrated into the algorithms.

Future Expansion and Mission

Marconi envisions the startup eventually expanding into other sectors, creating specialized “micro models” for each industry.

The overarching mission of Applied XL is “measuring the health of people, places and the planet.”

Investment Details

Tuesday Capital spearheaded the seed funding round, with contributions from Frog Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Team Europe (the investment vehicle of Delivery Hero co-founder Lukasz Gadowski), and Ringier executive Robin Lingg.

Prashant Fonseka, a partner at Tuesday Capital, commented, “Applied XL is developing the tools and platform for the next generation of data-driven decision-making, which business leaders will depend on for years to come.”

He added, “Data is the new oil, and the Applied XL team has discovered how to identify, extract, and utilize one of the world’s most valuable resources.”