Monitaur is an AI governance software company that recently raised $4.6 million in funding. This funding round was led by Cultivation Capital. And Rockmont Partners, Presidio Ventures, Plug and Play, and Studio VC also participated in the round. To learn more about the company, Pulse 2.0 interviewed CEO Anthony Habayeb.
Anthony Habayeb’s Background
Habayeb said that his journey was one of a generalist but by design.
“I went to a small liberal arts university, Otterbein University in Ohio, that accelerated my foundation for wandering curiosity, which has impacted me throughout my career. Accenture paid me to learn and build skills across a range of different industries and problems,” said Habayeb. “At Yahoo and Monster, my time spanned sales operations, channel development, product development, business general management, and marketing. At ThriveHive, I had the opportunity to drive hypergrowth, lead acquisitions, run finances, and disrupt a big company in Gannett. These professional experiences helped me become the best possible partner to my amazing team running their part of the business, appreciate the challenges of their roles, offer real experience, and be able to recognize exceptional talent.”
Formation Of Monitaur
When I asked Habayeb how the idea for Monitaur came together, he replied that he fundamentally believes that artificial intelligence could make our lives better.
“I recognize that there is a real fear and concern about how these systems can hurt us or cause harm and just how much we need to grow confidence and trust in the people building these systems and the systems themselves,” added Habayeb. “I am here building Monitaur because if Monitaur can deliver trust and confidence in AI, we can help AI to make our lives better. To me, that’s inspiring.”
Challenges In Building Monitaur
I had asked Habayeb what some of the challenges were in building the company. And he said that the team did not expect remote work to become the standard when they started the company.
“We founded Monitaur with a commitment to a remote-first and distributed team, and before COVID, that strategy was more novel and offered a competitive advantage. As a result of COVID, all companies have fundamentally changed their perspective on remote work,” Habayeb explained.
Core Products And Features
What are Monitaur’s core products and features? For companies using artificial intelligence to make high-impact or consequential business decisions, Monitaur offers software that delivers responsible and ethical model governance from policy to proof.
The company’s Machine Learning Assurance Platform helps enterprises and their partners build and deploy responsible AI and machine learning models that business leaders, regulators and consumers can trust. The platform’s integrated products include GovernML, RecordML, MonitorML, and AuditML — which empowers AI/ML teams to deliver transparency, fairness, safety and compliance for their high-impact systems.
Evolution Of Monitaur’s Technology
How has Monitaur’s technology evolved since the company launched?
“Monitaur, while committed to agile thinking and software development, had a strong opinion of what was required as an initial solution for enterprise companies ready to invest in AI governance. So our first offering was more developed and robust than most early-stage companies. Since then, we’ve continued to harden our applications and platform, launch new products, and actively listen to our customers,” Habayeb responded.
Company Milestones
When I asked Habayeb what some of the company’s biggest milestones were, he noted that they had several employees who welcomed a first child to their family “and it feels amazing to think that our employees are having these huge personal events in their lives while sharing the Monitaur journey.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Monitaur from its competition?
“We’re obsessed with the boring, but substantive parts of how audits, governance, and assurance work. Our customers, partners, and analysts pretty consistently agree that Monitaur has thoughtfully and uniquely developed a comprehensive solution that blends the challenges of AI with proven best practices for risk management,” Habayeb pointed out.
Future Company Goals
Upon asking Habayeb about the company’s future company goals, he concluded: “To enable great companies to responsibly and ethically build amazing AI that makes our lives better!”
