HR-tech serial entrepreneur Gary Fowler is again making headlines as Yva.ai was acquired by HR and workforce analytics provider, Visier.
The venture-backed startup was a spinoff from the digital transformation company Abbyy and was co-founded in Silicon Valley by David Yang and Gary Fowler. The employee feedback platform for enterprises uses artificial intelligence to transform data into actionable insights and adds another piece to Visier’s already robust puzzle of AI people analytics services.
Visier is a recognized global leader in people analytics, providing on-demand answers to people-powered businesses. The platform helps employers better manage their business practices when it comes to hiring, firing, and retaining employees boasting an impressive 15,000 customers in 75 countries, including enterprise clients like Adobe, BASF, Bridgestone, Electronic Arts, McKesson, Merck, Uber, and more. Visier is headquartered in Vancouver, BC with offices and team members worldwide.
Yva.ai is one of the few companies to offer an unsupervised AI system that teaches itself to solve enterprise problems, a near non-existent concept in the world of HR. The software predicts employee resignations within a week with 94.5% accuracy, within 5 weeks with 88% accuracy, and within 3-6 months with 70% accuracy, according to Redthread Research.
Yva.ai will be integrated into the Visier platform allowing employees to rate their work experiences weekly via text message to help companies identify potential issues before they manifest.
“When you have this level of transparency about what’s going on inside your organization, you’re able to make more informed decisions about where more resources are needed or where costs can be cut. I am happy to see that the company I co-founded with David Yang, Yva.ai, was acquired by Visier.” – Gary Fowler, CEO of GSD Venture Studios.
Gary Fowler and David Yang developed Yva.ai as an industry-agnostic solution that offers a 360º view of what is happening in an organization as opposed to the competition, which makes its analysis in silos. Gary is an award-winning executive who has been named one of the top 10 most innovative Global AI Executives by Analytic Insight. Mr. Fowler continues to lead today and is currently CEO, President, and Co-founder of GSD Venture Studios. The firm helps entrepreneurs from around the world expedite their growth, secure funding, and #GoGlobal, with a portfolio of almost 100 companies from over 40 different countries to date. Gary is a prolific writer and hosts a widely popular video podcast where he interviews top leaders in tech, providing valuable insights into how the largest and most successful companies come to be.
The tactics implemented by Gary as co-founder of Yva.ai is very obviously applicable here at GSD and certainly has had a massive impact on our success” – Derek Distenfield, COO of GSD Venture Studios.
GSD travels the world in search of bold, resilient entrepreneurs and guides them through the minefield of challenges faced by any great idea and its team. Gary and Derek guide portfolio companies through a 15-week accelerator to invigorate global sales, marketing, and traction with their extensive venture-building experience and far-reaching industry contacts. The accelerator’s ultimate goal is to secure funding for participating companies, with the most extraordinary selected for syndication.
This acquisition is a huge advancement in AI. We look forward to seeing how Yva.ai, integrated with Visier, makes a dent in the universe and are even more excited to keep tabs on Gary Fowler’s continued impact in the AI and startup world.
Opinions expressed by CEO Weekly contributors are their own.
