Sber, the state-controlled financial and tech giant (previously known as Sberbank) has acquired a 8% stake in Watchout!AI in exchange for a acquired 8%. The startup was valued at 125 million rubles, or $1.6 million at the current exchange rate.
Founded in 2019, Watchout!AI uses computer vision and machine learning algorithms to “easily detect and prevent brand threats.” With the help of these tools, a brand’s ads will appear only in a company-friendly context, says the company, which increases the ROI of the campaigns as well as customer loyalty.
The service uses AI to recognize negative texts on the brand with a claimed accuracy 96%, reports business daily Kommersant, citing an exchange with Watchout!AI founder Vitaly Sotnikov.
The startup is an alumni of the Sberbank-500Startups accelerator, which provided an initial $150,000 capital injection.
Under plans, Watchout!AI’s solutions could be integrated to the offer of SberMarketing. Created last year, this branch of Sber provides full-cycle advertising agency services within and outside the Sber ecosystem.
