Emotion AI Leader Affectiva Announces $14 Million in Growth Capital

WALTHAM, Mass., May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Affectiva, the global leader in emotion recognition software announced today that Fenox Venture Capital led its $14 million recent round of additional growth capital, on top of the $20 million previously raised. The investors include IT Services giant CAC Holdings, Bandai Namco, and Sega Sammy Holdings that is the multinational video game developer and publisher in Japan – all LPs in Fenox funds. The investment will be used to drive the company's continued innovation in Emotion AI and to further accelerate rapid growth into global markets. For more information on Affectiva: www.affectiva.com.

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Chairman of the Board Nick Langeveld, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rana el Kaliouby

Affectiva also announced that Nick Langeveld has been named Chairman of the Board. Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, who co-founded Affectiva, will be moving into the role of Chief Executive Officer. Under Nick's leadership, Affectiva has become the standard in scalable and fully automated emotion data. The company provides advanced analytics and fuels industry KPIs, norms and benchmarks based on the world's largest emotion database. Affectiva has developed a world class Emotion AI data platform along with SaaS, SDK and API products.  "I am thrilled to have Fenox Venture Capital invest in Affectiva. We are at an inflection point regarding how emotion data and insights are used in various industries," said Langeveld. "This capital will fuel our growth in new areas including gaming, healthcare and video communications."

Affectiva Emotion Recognition Technology

Affectiva's emotion recognition technology allows developers to create hyper-personalized experiences across multiple industries such as gaming, advertising, healthcare and automotive. Game developers can create adaptive games that change based on a player's mood, clinical researchers can develop applications that respond to a patient's emotional state, and video communication platforms can optimize webinars so speakers can modify their presentations in real-time, based on an audience's engagement.

The Future of Emotion AI

"We envision a future where our mobile and IoT devices can read and adapt to human emotions, transforming not only how we interact with hyper-intelligent technology, but also how we communicate with each other in a digital world," said Rana el Kaliouby. "Affectiva is the Emotion AI company; we build artificial emotional intelligence that senses, models and adapts to human emotion and behavior. It is a big, exciting vision for artificial intelligence, as it realizes the practical business application of AI and fuels innovation in many global markets."  With the new funding, Affectiva will make its research team the magnet for emotion AI innovation, drawing top talent in machine learning, computer vision and emotion science.

"Affectiva has built and proven its technology over the past few years and we are excited about the potential of the technology to become a core platform for Emotion AI globally," said Anis Uzzaman, General Partner and CEO of Fenox Venture Capital.

About Affectiva
Affectiva, an MIT Media Lab spin-off, is the pioneer in Emotion AI, the next frontier of artificial intelligence. Affectiva's mission is to bring emotional intelligence to the digital world with its emotion recognition technology that senses and analyzes facial expressions and emotions. Affectiva's patented software is built on an emotion AI science platform that uses computer vision, deep learning and the world's largest emotion data repository of more than 4 million faces analyzed from 75 countries, amounting to more than 50 billion emotion data points. Affectiva's SDKs and APIs enable developers to add emotion-sensing and analytics to their own mobile apps, games, devices, applications and digital experiences. Affectiva is used by more than 1,400 brands to gather insight and analytics in consumer emotional engagement. Affectiva is privately held with backing from leading investors such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and WPP.  For more information: www.affectiva.com.

About Fenox Venture Capital
Fenox Venture Capital is a Silicon Valley-based Venture Capital firm with several multi-million dollar funds under management. Fenox has invested in more than 65 US, European and Asian startups, including Jibo, Affectiva, ShareThis, Genius, LARK, META and more, leveraging its global presence with its headquarters in San Jose and offices in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Dubai, Belarus and Bangladesh.

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SOURCE Affectiva

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http://www.affectiva.com