Posted by Ilya Gelfenbeyn, Head of the Google Assistant Investments program
Last year, we announced the Google Assistant Investments program with the goal to help pioneering startups bring their ideas to life in the digital assistant ecosystem. Not only have we invested in some really great startups, we've also been working closely with these companies to make their services available to more users.
We're excited to be back to announce five new portfolio companies and catch up on the progress some of them have made this past year. With the next batch of investments, we're helping companies explore how digital assistants can improve the hospitality, insurance, fashion and education industries, and we have something for sports fans too.
First up, AskPorter. This London-based team was founded to make managing spaces simple, providing every property manager and occupant with a digital personal assistant. AskPorter is an AI-powered property management platform with a digital assistant called Porter. Porter assists and takes care of all aspects of property management such as guiding inspections arranging viewings, troubleshooting maintenance issues and chasing payments.
GradeSlam is an on-demand, chat-based, personalized learning and tutoring service available across all subject areas. Sessions are conducted via chat, creating a learning environment that allows students to interact freely and personally with qualified educators. The Montreal-based team is already used by more than 150,000 students, teachers and administrators.
Aiva Health puts smart speakers in hospitals and senior communities to reduce response times and improve satisfaction for patients, seniors, and caregivers alike. Aiva understands patient requests and routes them to the most appropriate caregiver so they can respond instantly via their mobile app. The Aiva platform provides centralized IoT management, powering Smart Hospitals and Smart Communities.
StyleHacks (formerly Maison Me) was founded with a goal of empowering people to take back control of their style and wardrobe. With a conversational interface and personalized AI-powered recommendations, they're helping people live their most stylish lives. The team has already launched the "StyleHacks" Action for phones and Smart Displays in December 2018, helping people decide what to wear by providing personalized recommendations based on the weather and preferences. And in the next few months, StyleHacks will also be able to help you shop for clothes you will actually wear. Just ask StyleHacks what to wear today
StatMuse turns the biggest sports stars into your own personal sports commentator. Powered by the personalities of more than 25 sports superstars including Peyton Manning, Jerry Rice and Scott Van Pelt, fans can get scores, stats and recaps for the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB dating back to 1876. To try it out, just say, "Hey Google, talk to StatMuse."
It's been almost a year since we launched the Investments program and we're happy to see how some of these companies are already using voice to broaden the Google Assistant's capabilities. If you're working on new ways for people to use their voice to get things done, or building new hardware devices for digital assistants, we'd like to hear from you.
