Pioneering Cardiff University spin-out, Nisien.AI, leads the way in the Welsh entrepreneurship renaissance

Nisien.AI recently welcomed investment from the Investment Fund for Wales and is supported by the Airbus Endeavr Wales programme.

Nisien.AI is an innovative Welsh artificial intelligence start-up which specialises in online threat detection and data science driven approaches to mitigation of risk. Their mission is to create a safer online environment by combining advanced AI technology with human intelligence to address various online harms effectively and ethically.

The company's success aligns with Wales’ strategic focus on cyber and AI, with Cardiff University and the wider Welsh university sector playing a key role in fostering academic-industry collaboration. Furthermore, Nisien.AI have created 14 new jobs this year, demonstrating the growth that the cyber security and AI sector can offer the Welsh employment market.

Nisien.AI was founded in 2023 by two leading Cardiff University academics - Professor Matt Williams and Professor Pete Burnap. Professor Williams, co-Founder and Chief Scientist, is a criminology professor, and serves as Director of the HateLab, which he founded in 2017. Professor Burnap, Co-Founder and Chief of AI, is a professor of data science and cybersecurity, and serves as the Director of the Wales Cyber Innovation Hub, Director of the Cardiff Centre for Cyber Security Research, Co-Director of the Digital Transformation Innovation Institute, and the Deputy-Director of HateLab.

The company's flagship product, the Harms Evaluation & Response Observatory (HERO), utilises cutting-edge AI algorithms to detect and classify online threats in real-time across multiple platforms. HERO goes beyond simple keyword analysis by understanding linguistic context and intent, allowing for nuanced decision-making and reducing false positives. This technology provides actionable insights through dashboards and detailed reports, enabling organisations to make data-driven decisions and implement targeted interventions.

Nisien.AI has collaborated with various organisations to enhance online safety. They have worked with social media platforms to refine community guidelines and develop strategies to mitigate online hate speech. Additionally, they have partnered with UK government departments to monitor harmful content related to sensitive events, contributing valuable data to national threat assessments.

Investment Fund for Wales

Recently, Nisien.AI received investment from the British Business Bank’s £130m Investment Fund for Wales via Foresight Group and the Development Bank of Wales, in a joint investment.

The investment comes just over a year since the Investment Fund for Wales was launched in November 2023, by the government-backed British Business Bank, to boost the supply of early-stage finance to small and medium-sized businesses across Wales.

Hannah Mallen, Assistant Investment Executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said: “Nisien.AI is a great example of a Welsh business working at the cutting edge of a rapidly developing field. Part of our aim at the Development Bank is to support businesses in Wales with strong growth potential and a positive social impact. Nisien.AI’s work will be increasingly important in the rapidly evolving and increasingly topical world of social media, and we’re glad to have supported them during this round. We look forward to working with Foresight to support the business.”

The new investment will enable the company to continue to innovate and scale, making key hires and accelerating R&D to develop and bring to market novel and disruptive products. In addition to identifying and responding to online harms, the company is also working on new AI products based on emerging scientific evidence on ‘what works’ in building cohesive integrated online spaces. These distinctive products address user/customer retention issues on social media platforms and brand channels, by using a non-censorship approach that protects freedom of expression.

These products will support content moderation and longer term healthy online conversation and community integration. This functionality is essential given the polarising debate around issues of freedom of speech, where the current option to censor content is sub-optimal for users, platforms, and brands.

Lee Gainer, CEO at Nisien.AI added: “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be growing a challenger business in this sector."

Airbus Endeavr Wales

The Airbus Endeavr Wales programme, which recently celebrated 15 years of success, is a joint venture between Welsh Government, Airbus Defence and Space, and Cardiff University – representing the university sector in Wales.

The Endeavr initiative, which gives universities and SMEs the opportunity to work with Airbus and develop innovative solutions to complex problems, has drawn £1.6m in funding from other sources in the last three years alone – more than the investment made by the Welsh Government and its partners. It has now received a funding extension from Welsh Government and Airbus Defence and Space on a fifty-fifty basis.

Nisien.AI has benefitted from this programme and is currently working with Airbus on the detection of information that has been generated using AI, to accurately detect potential misinformation across online platforms in real time.

Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans said: “Nisien.AI’s groundbreaking work is exactly the sort of innovative solution we had in mind when we launched our Wales Innovates strategy. The Endeavr programme is acting as a catalyst to encourage cutting edge innovation from both academia and the SME community across the whole of Wales, embedding Airbus technology and capability within the Welsh business ecosystem. We may be a small nation, but by enabling collaboration between people, consortia and businesses to work towards shared goals, we can have a big presence and provide a valuable contribution to the overarching UK vision for innovation.”

Professor Pete Burnap said: “The work with Airbus builds on a decade of collaboration between Cardiff University and Airbus, which all kick started with an Endeavr grant. I was fortunate enough to learn a great deal about translating research into real world applications during my secondment at Airbus, and I am now Director of the Wales Cyber Innovation Hub – which aims to grow the number of cyber security businesses and skilled individuals in and around the Cardiff Capital Region. As a co-founder of Nisien.AI, it’s a privilege to be working with the same programme 10 years on, to help develop new cyber capability that has the potential to reach a global scale via our partnership with Airbus. We’ve been able to create and sustain new jobs locally as a result of work so far, and the most recent programme will enable us to scale this even further.”