First Pakistani startup has received an investment directly from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop innovative Artificial Intelligence models for data collection.
The startup is aiming to disrupt a $75 billion market research industry using recent advances in Artificial Intelligence. An expert termed this initiative as an outstanding for field data collection, where SurveyAuto relies on local community members with smartphones to report data rather than relying on expensive dedicated teams.
The expert said that what Uber has done to taxi services, they are aiming to do the same to traditional market research companies like Neilsen and Gallup. The SurveyAuto uses a crowdsourcing model and relies on machine learning to decide who reports data, where it is collected, and when and how often it is reported.
SurveyAuto founder and CEO Dr. Umar Saif said that this reduces cost and minimizes human errors. The company uses machine learning on satellite imagery and open street maps to accurately identify survey targets, tracks and monitors enumerators in real-time using smartphone applications and uses speech and image analysis to automatically analyze the quality of collected data.
The investment marks the latest in a series of large-scale engagements for the company. Headquartered in Lahore with offices in Amsterdam and Boston, the SurveyAuto is working on several global projects with the World Bank, Innovations in Poverty Action (IPA), ITA, UNESCO, and other development organizations.
