Afiniti Ltd., also called Afiniti, is an American multinational data and software company. Founded in 2005, Afiniti is focused on developing

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

for use in customer call centers. Afiniti is a unicorn company with a valuation of $1.6 billion in 2017.

History

2006–2010: Initial years

In 2006, Afiniti was founded in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Zia Chishti Muhammad Ziaullah Khan Chishti (; born 1971) is a Pakistani-American investor and business executive. He is the founder of Afiniti, TRG Pakistan, TRG Global, and co-founder of Align Technology. After starting his career as a Morgan Stanley inves ...

, a former

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

investment banker who had previously co-founded Align Technology, with the help of his partners at The Resource Group (TRG), Hasnain Aslam and Mohammed Khaishgi of the Kheshgi family. In 2008, the company submitted several patents related to matching caller data with computer models, which were granted in 2014.

2011–2020: Growth and unicorn status

In late 2016, the company confidentially filed for a potential future

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO). Around that time, Afiniti also introduced software to run phone numbers "through a variety of databases prior to when a call center agent picks up the phone." The system referred to around 100 databases to gather information on callers, including from public profiles such as

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. According to ''Fortune'' magazine, the system operated on "the idea that it's possible, using thousands of call records, to determine which agents perform best with certain type of customers." According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', by January 2017, the company had installed its artificial intelligence software in around 150 call centers for several dozen companies, among them

Caesars Entertainment Corporation Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven g ...

and Sprint. In 2017, the company closed a fourth round of venture funding, bringing in $80 million from investors such as GAM, McKinsey & Co, Elisabeth Murdoch, and John Browne. The round brought the company's total funding raised since its inception to $100 million. Afiniti signed a deal with

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...

in September 2017 and Avaya in April 2018. In January 2018, ''Fortune'' magazine included Afiniti on its list of the 100 companies "leading the way in A.I." By June 2018, Afiniti had been active in 18 countries and had 1,000 employees.

2021–present: Resignation of Zia Chishti

In November 2021, Zia Chishti stepped down as chairman, chief executive officer and director following allegations of sexual assault to an employee made in testimony to the

United States House Committee on the Judiciary The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

. The former UK prime minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

left his role as chair of Afiniti's advisory board following the allegations.{{cite news, title=David Cameron quits Afiniti role after founder accused of sexual assault, url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/17/david-cameron-quits-afiniti-founder-accused-sexual-assault-zia-chishti, work=

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, first=Rupert, last=Neate, date=November 17, 2021, access-date=November 21, 2021, location=London

Services and technology

According to the company, its software uses AI to boost company's efficiency by "predicting interpersonal behavior" between the callers and agents. ''

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. ''VentureBeat'' is a tech news source that publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. The ''VentureBeat'' company was fou ...

'' explains that "when a customer calls into a call center, Afiniti matches their phone number — either

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

or cellphone — with any information tied to it from up to 100 databases. These databases carry purchase history, income, and other demographic information." Data on customers is collected from the customers and from

data broker A data broker is an individual or company that specializes in collecting personal data (such as income, ethnicity, political beliefs, or geolocation data) or data about people, mostly from public records but sometimes sourced privately, and sell ...

s. Afiniti does not charge for the software or service itself, but instead takes a percentage of any proven revenue increases resulting from use of the software.

References

External links

afiniti.com
Software companies based in Washington, D.C. Software companies of the United States 2005 establishments in the United States 2005 establishments in Washington, D.C. Software companies established in 2005 American companies established in 2005