Danti, an artificial intelligence company building an ultra-powerful search engine for Earth data, has brought on prominent defense technology investor Shield Capital as it looks to expand its technology for government customers.
Founded by Jesse Kallman in early 2023, Danti develops a natural language search engine that targets previously highly siled data, such as satellite imagery, and cross-checks it with other commercial and government sources. , created reports across multiple sources and domains.
For example, an analyst can pose a complex question in simple terms, such as “What are the recent tank movements in eastern Ukraine?” And in turn, you receive direct answers that are matched across data sources.
The idea is to allow a single analyst to do more, Kallman said in a recent interview. As America's adversaries throw resources at the problem of analyzing vast amounts of data, Danti aims to help “one analyst do the work of 10 or 15 people.” he said. This means relatively simple questions (for example, where is a particular ship off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria) could be answered in seconds rather than hours.
“We are not replacing analysts,” Kallman declared. “We're helping them do their work faster so they can get to the part that humans are much better at: synthesizing and deciding, 'What should I do now with this information?' ” How can I report it? ” “
Among the startup's early customers is the U.S. Space Force, which uses Danti's products to make it easier for officers to search and share data. The use of natural language models in search engines means an intuitive and easy-to-understand user experience. This is arguably most important in high-pressure situations, where analysts need to make complex decisions but have little time to sift through large amounts of satellite or drone data.
Currently, Danti is focused on government, but in the long term it plans to roll out versions of the product for commercial industries. This version will focus on property records, parcel information and risk data, serving markets such as utility companies and insurance, Cullman said. Customers can also connect their information to her Danti's engine and use its natural language processing to query their data.
The $5 million round was led by Shield Capital and included participation from the startup's existing investors Tech Square Ventures, Humba Ventures, Leo Polovets, Space.VC, and Radius Capital. Kallman said the firm was intentionally looking for a defense-focused fund to lead its next round, especially as it seeks to execute on government go-to-market plans and expand its engineering team.
The team has grown to more than 20 people since last summer, when the company announced a $2.75 million pre-seed, and Kallman said the engineering team will grow further with the new infusion of capital.