Alphabet venture arm GV backs UK machine-learning start-up nPlan
Summary
A British start-up which helped Network Rail save tens of millions of pounds by identifying potential bottlenecks in infrastructure upgrades has secured more than £10m in new funding from the venture arm of Googles owner, Alphabet. Sky News understands that nPlan, which was founded in 2017, will announce this week that GV - formerly Google Ventures - has invested $18.5m to help fund its expansion plans. nPlan operates in the "constructiontech" category, which is attracting billions of pounds in investment as the industry attempts to wrest greater efficiencies from the substantial spending associated with major physical infrastructure developments. To date, the company said its algorithms had analysed global projects worth almost $1trillion, with the Biden administration in the US and other major economies expected to step up infrastructure spending in a bid to aid their recovery from the pandemic. Mr Amratia, a former project manager at Shell, recently led a national review of artificial intelligence for the government and sits on an expert panel for the Department for Transports Acceleration Unit.