After the recent news of Facebook’s new AI lab, and the announcement that Samsung has been operating an AI lab since August, there’s another new AI lab in town.

Stradigi, a Montreal-based software development company, has announced the launch of Stradigi Labs, an applied research center focused on developing innovative AI solutions in high-growth markets such as medical and healthcare, sports and social platforms.

The new Stradigi Labs will operate as a separate division under the Stradigi family of companies and be led by Carolina Bessega PhD and astrophysicist. She will serve as the newly appointed Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of the lab, and will be joined by Jaime Camacaro, Stradigi Chief Innovation Officer and both of the original, principal owners and founders of Stradigi’s umbrella companies, Basil Bouraropoulos, CEO and Curtis Gavura, COO.

“Carolina has actually been with Stradigi for close to 8 years. She lead our engineering team as CTO and began to incorporate artificial intelligence into our offerings as it was the most effective way to produce certain products for our clients,” Basil Bouraropoulos, CEO and Co-founder of Stradigi told MTLinTECH. “Carolina is really bringing a new, exciting element to Stradigi with the creation of this lab, along with our Chief Innovation Officer, Jaime Camcaro, who leads the lab with her.”

The lab has already secured multi-million dollar investments, including capital from The Dunn Family (Family trust of Canadian business icon Sir Herbert Holt), Panache Ventures, Stradigi Ventures, and Mike Cegelski, and they’re now breaking ground on several projects at once.

“Its really an amazing time to be a part of the whole AI ecosystem here. The community has done such a great job at embracing companies in this space and not really creating that competitive environment we are used to seeing. In additional to this, we have a great local talent pool, and the institutions have done a great job at helping attract top talent from abroad that will continue to expand their knowledge in our city.”

The Stradigi family includes Stradigi (A full service software development company), Stradigi Ventures (an early stage AI focused incubator) and the newly formed Stradigi Labs (an AI-focused applied research center). The new lab will support existing clients of Stradigi’s software development services, support incubated businesses within Stradigi Ventures, and create new business ideas that can either become stand alone businesses that will be spun out into our incubator, or potential scalable licensing opportunities.

Carolina Bessega, CSO & Co-Founder - Stradigi Labs, will discuss about #ArtificialIntelligence at the #NACOsummit! https://t.co/S1HC0Kl6yI pic.twitter.com/2AjOb1kiSz

— stradigi (@StradigiDev) September 27, 2017

“AI is one of the fastest-growing segments of tech today, and there is a large demand from well-established businesses who deal with complex problems but don’t have an AI team to craft custom solutions they need,” said Carolina Bessega, CSO and co-founder of Stradigi Labs. “I look forward to continuing our work with a talented team of data and research scientists, advisors, and international partners, as we develop powerful new ways to leverage AI that will contribute to the growth of the industry.”

The first company spun out of the Lab, Propulse Analytics, built a custom AI solution to better understand a customer’s path to purchase for retailers. The image recognition technology recently helped a millennial clothing brand amplify sales 2.5x in a matter of months, bringing an innovative prediction tool to retailers to address fulfillment needs and help move unsold inventory. A second company with a powerful chatting application focused on preventing cyber-bullying is expected to be announced in the near future.

To accommodate the expansion, Stradigi is looking to add 30 new employees to their existing workforce of 50 over the next 18 months. In addition, Stradigi has also secured 13,000 square feet of office space in the penthouse of the historic Hermes Building in addition to the 9,000 square feet the company currently occupies.

“The office will have a very unique open concept with phenomenal views of downtown Montreal, multiple meeting areas, lounges and a very unique rooftop terrace that will be exclusive to our staff members, clients and partners,” said Bouraropoulos. “Our expansion plans also include new offices in other major cities. We are excited to share the whole story with everyone in the near future.”