Interview with Nicolai Baldin, CEO and Founder of Synthesized

We caught up with Nicolai Baldin, CEO and founder of Synthesized, to talk all things from the power of data to closing a seeding round 2 weeks before lockdown…
 

Tell us about Synthesized

 
Synthesized was founded to help companies unlock the full potential of their data. We’ve created a platform that automates all stages of data provisioning and data preparation with AI, helping to finally maximise commercial data’s true value. Our technology works by taking a dataset that has sensitive, identifiable information and generates a representative synthetic dataset of these records with unprecedented speed.

The benefits to this approach are threefold. Firstly, anyone who’s worked in data provisioning will tell you it’s a complex process that requires a great deal of manpower, typically taking companies two to four months to complete. By contrast, Synthesized is able to process a dataset with over a million transactions in just ten minutes. Secondly, customer privacy is instantly preserved through our generation of synthetic data, as it completely randomises information from an original dataset, meaning absolute compliance with regulations like GDPR. Finally, companies normally have to choose between imitation data, which can be limited, or original data, which takes longer to provision, both of which inhibit innovation. However, the quality of the data we produce is more than 95% accurate and, crucially, is available on demand.
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
The idea for Synthesized came during my transition out of academia and into working with public bodies in the UK. While pursuing my PhD in Statistics and Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, I saw the advancements that the academic world had made with regards to data, and recognised that there was a significant gap between the advances of the scientific community and major organisations. I felt that AI technology had the potential to create a better, more efficient solution for every industry grappling with the collection, management, and provisioning of data.

I started this business with the clear goal of not only unlocking the full potential of commercial data that protects people’s privacy, but also helping organisations to understand what the real value of their data is. As the world creates more data, it has become increasingly apparent that the issue of how best to manage and use this invaluable resource is no longer confined to the IT department, it is now a critical barometer of success for a company.
 

How has the need for Synthesized evolved during the pandemic?

 
As with many other companies, the pandemic forced us to take a step back and really think about the value we could bring to our customers. The company was actually in the particularly unique position of closing a seed funding round of £2.2 million just two weeks before the UK went into total lockdown, and this additional financing was a catalyst for developing the product further to fit our customers’ changing needs. The most important development is that it can now be deployed remotely.

More widely, we’ve seen that the Pandemic has forced organisations to think about how they work more efficiently. The initial resistance to adopting new technologies has dissipated as we work remotely, and companies have become more open to utilising technologies like AI, and working with trusted partners who have deep expertise in this area.
 

What can we hope to see from Synthesized in the future?

 
Businesses are starting to view the adoption of AI as a way to gain a distinct, competitive advantage and I think that in the coming years the transformative impact of this technology will be significant. With such an opportunity at hand, we as a company are already building the solutions of the future, with several major upcoming product releases scheduled.

In the immediate, Synthesized is continuing to make high-profile strategic hires to build out our already strong core team. By attracting some of the best talent available we’ve been able to strengthen the company in every department, from product to sales to marketing. I expect this type of growth to continue and I truly believe the potential of Synthesized is boundless.

For more information visit: https://www.synthesized.io/