ModelOp Raises $6 Million in Series a Funding From Valley Capital Partners to Meet Increasing Demand for Foundational ModelOps Capabilities for Enterprise AI

By AIT News Desk On Apr 2, 2020

New Funding Solidifies and Extends Leadership in Operationalizing AI and Machine Learning Models at Enterprise Scale

ModelOp, the pioneer of ModelOps software and services for major enterprises, announced that it has closed a $6 million Series A round of funding, led by Valley Capital Partners, with participation from Silicon Valley Data Capital, and expands the company’s board with the addition of Steve O’Hara, Managing Partner at Valley Capital Partners. Aligned with its funding objectives, ModelOp has expanded its executive team with three new appointments: Sheau-ming Ross, as chief financial officer; Mark LeMonnier, as vice president of software engineering; and Linda Maggi, as vice president of marketing. ModelOp today also announced general availability for ModelOp Center Version 2, its flagship software platform that automates model deployment, monitoring and governance.

Since its founding in 2016, ModelOp has maintained a singular focus on the challenge of ModelOps, which is increasingly recognized as a foundational capability necessary for enterprises to operationalize and gain business benefits from AI technology. Much in the way that DevOps has become a fundamental discipline for developing and delivering software, ModelOps is the inevitable response by enterprises to the unique technical and business challenges inherent in operationalizing data science and machine learning models.

Undeployed and ungoverned DS/ML models cost enterprises millions in unrealized value and expose them to millions more in governance and compliance risks. ModelOps addresses the growing “Model Debt” accumulating in the many companies that have invested heavily in data science and machine learning (DS/ML) but have yet to realize the full value of those investments.

“As enterprise Model Debt grows quickly, the emphasis is now on getting AI models out of pilot and into production, and this is driving rapid growth in the market for ModelOps,” said Pete Foley, CEO of ModelOp. “With this latest round of funding, we’re well positioned to grow and ensure that our platform and delivery capabilities stay well ahead of competitive offerings and can accommodate the evolving regulatory landscape.”

ModelOp’s flagship software platform – ModelOp Center – enables organizations to put their models into production faster, with full control and visibility into critical model-based business assets, and with full transparency and auditability. ModelOp’s customers include five of the top 10 largest financial institutions, as well as Fortune 500 manufacturers, insurers, and credit bureaus.

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ModelOp was named by Gartner* in the February 2020 “Assessing DevOps in Artificial Intelligence Initiatives” report. According to the report, “ModelOps (model operations) is an emerging platform for DevOps in AI initiatives that focus on moving and facilitating AI and/or ML models through a standard life cycle.” Further, “Organizations continue to struggle getting their AI and data science models deployed to production and managed once they are there. ModelOps aims to reduce the burden of deploying and managing models in production.”

“ModelOp has made a tremendous impact on our business and the way we deliver on client experience and transparency across all areas of capital markets,” said Joe Squeri, CTO/COO at Exos, former CIO of Barclays and managing director, technology, at Goldman Sachs. “ModelOp has enabled us to focus on our priority models to deliver maximum value while equipping us with the necessary governance and control capabilities to manage compliance and risk requirements. Exos is all-in as a model-driven enterprise, and ModelOp has proven itself to be the trusted partner we’ll continue to rely upon as we advance our business and data science capabilities.”

The new investment by Valley Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Data Capital validates the unique position of ModelOp and underscores the indicators that ModelOps is on the trajectory to become a market as big or as bigger than DevOps. DevOps has been valued by IDC to reach $8 billion by 2022. This funding round will be used to support rapidly growing demand,as well as additions to engineering, services, sales, operations and customer success.

“We’re extremely compelled by the growing recognition among enterprises that they need to invest in ModelOps to realize the value of AI,” said Steve O’Hara, Managing Partner at Valley Capital Partners. “ModelOp is pioneering a major new category and we’re looking forward to working with the leadership team in the next phase of the company’s growth.”

The appointments of Ross, LeMonnier and Maggi speak to the demand of ModelOp’s growing customer base and product innovation drive. All three individuals bring a proven track record of achievements and deep industry expertise. Ross was most recently chief financial officer for the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and prior chief financial officer for three growth-stage technology companies, including Mattersight and EPAY Systems; LeMonnier was vice president of engineering with Ancestry.com; and Maggi was senior director of world wide field and partner marketing with BMC Software. Collectively, their extensive experience in IT and understanding of the challenges that today’s enterprise face with AI and data science will support the company as it defines and leads the category of ModelOps.