• UAE-based VC firm e& capital, the VC arm of communication company e&, has participated in the $25 million Series A of the US-based AI startup Ikigai Labs, along with Premji Invest and Foundation Capital.
• Founded in 2019 by Devavrat Shah and Vinayak Ramesh, Ikigai Labs offers a no-code AI solution, helping organisations address the challenges of harnessing large datasets and ensuring accurate forecasting.
• The funding will advance Ikigai Lab's mission to utilise AI through the Ikigai Academy and Ikigai platform.

Press release:

e& capital today announced its participation in the Series A financing round for Ikigai Labs, a pioneering firm harnessing the power of generative AI for tabular data.

Ikigai Labs has secured $25 million in this round, with contributions from e& capital, Premji Invest, and Foundation Capital.

The funding will advance Ikigai Lab's vision of transforming enterprises' utilisation of AI, enabling organisations to master AI through the Ikigai Academy and the easy, fast, and powerful Ikigai platform.

Ikigai Labs offers a no-code AI solution, helping organisations address the challenges of harnessing large datasets and ensuring accurate forecasting. The company's innovative approach combines state-of-the-art time series forecasting with three core tools: aiMatch for data reconciliation, aiCast for prediction, and aiPlan for scenario planning.

“I see the challenges that individuals face in understanding what can be done with their tabular data, together with the struggle for enterprises to leverage the latest technological innovations in AI,” said Devavrat Shah, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Ikigai Labs, and Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Chair Professor of AI and Decisions at MIT. “With Ikigai, we see a clear opportunity to help the global workforce harness the power of AI. We are excited to work with e& capital, Premji Invest, Foundation Capital, and luminaries like Diane Greene, who are enabling us to make Generative AI for tabular data truly effective across enterprises.”

Eddy Farhat, Executive Director, e& capital, said: “We believe Ikigai is poised to revolutionise the way businesses engage with AI. First, by prioritising functional teams and meeting them where they are on their AI journey both through their powerful, intuitive AI platform and through their engaging, hands-on academy. Second, while the tech world is enamoured with text- and image-based generative AI, Ikigai recognises the substantial value of tabular data, the true treasure trove for most businesses.

“AI is one of humanity’s most powerful technological levers, our investment in Ikigai is a testament to our confidence in their mission to democratise AI and make it more accessible.”

Ikigai Lab's platform is enriched by the innovative Expert-in-the-Loop (EiTL) approach to reinforcement learning. Along with this easy, fast and powerful platform, Ikigai Academy has trained over 6,000 students from 90+ countries on topics such as “No Code AI” and “Time Series Forecasting”.

With this investment in Ikigai Labs, e& capital reaffirms its dedication to championing innovative technologies. This strategic move is anticipated to catalyse the next generation of AI-driven solutions, heralding a smarter, data-centric business world.