Despite initial challenges in fundraising, Tech Spark AI secured investment from TD Bank, Salesforce, Canada’s government, and NBA Canada. The company also received funding from the Investment Readiness Program by the Foundation for Black Communities. In addition to language translation, Spark Plug has developed an assessment tool, LearningDNA, to help educators understand students' learning styles. The company plans to expand the number of dialects it can translate to cater to the diverse Black voices worldwide.
Key takeaways:
- Tech Spark AI has raised $1.4 million in a pre-seed funding round to develop a new generative AI platform called Spark Plug, which aims to be a Black-owned alternative to current AI search platforms.
- The platform's first iteration allows users to translate classic literature text into modern language, specifically from standard text to African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
- Spark Plug has also developed an assessment tool called LearningDNA to help educators understand how students learn best, with plans to expand how many dialects it can translate.
- The fundraising process was challenging, but the situation improved after receiving an investment from TD Bank, and additional funding from the Investment Readiness Program by the Foundation for Black Communities.