Business Desk

The Straits Times

Publication Date : 20-11-2014

A Washington-based start-up that uses artificial intelligence to predict the outcome of legislation has received US$7 million in funding from investors that include Singapore's Temasek Holdings and the Winklevoss twins, made famous from their lawsuits against Facebook, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

FiscalNote, founded by a US entrepreneur, says it uses data-mining software and artificial intelligence to predict the fate of the bills proposed by state legislatures and by Congress each year with 94 per cent accuracy, said the newspaper.

"We will be utilising the resources for international growth and product expansion," said founder Tim Hwang, 22. "We will be bolstering our engineering team in addition to looking at expanding our sales and marketing operations, domestically and abroad."

The investing was led by several overseas funds including Visionnaire Ventures, a joint fund between Taizo Son and Temasek, the newspaper said. Early investors in the start-up include Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former America Online chairman Steve Case.

Hwang, who volunteered on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, co-founded the company in 2013 with boyhood friends Jonathan Chen and Gerald Yao, said the paper. Chen became chief technology officer and Yao is chief strategy officer, it added.

The company, headquartered in Washington city, has more than 30 clients, including Uber, Planned Parenthood, the New Balance shoe and apparel company, Ally Financial, Allergan, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Republican and Democratic governors associations.

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Temasek and the Winklevoss twins invest in US start-up