Generative AI has exploded into the mainstream. And Aily Labs, a Munich start-up with a Big Pharma veteran at the helm, is riding the wave with a plug-and-play decision intelligence app.
CEO and founder Bianca Anghelina, formerly head of global digital finance at Novartis, founded Aily after realizing how AI’s power could speed number-crunching tasks in her corporate role and free her up to focus on business strategy. With the goal of developing a tool that would work for other pharma companies, Aily became a reality in 2020, and its 200-person team now manages the app designed for large companies like Sanofi to incorporate AI in business functions across the organization.
The company has been profitable since its first year, and last year saw a 500% increase in customer growth, according to company officials. It recently raised about $21 million in a series A round, its first outside infusion of capital since launch, in a market poised to reach $1.3 trillion globally by 2032.
“My vision was to create the Apple of AI, and create an AI product which helps simplify work across the organization [and] across the value chain, because I saw the power of AI in connecting data across all functions and bridging the different data silos, which are pretty common in big organizations,” Anghelina said.
A simple formula
In a recent McKinsey survey, one-third of respondents said they already use generative AI for business, and 40% plan to boost their investment further to fuel productivity — a trend that’s revolutionizing how pharma companies work. But incorporating AI comes with hurdles, which Aily hopes to solve with its app, designed to be as friendly for non-techies as Spotify or Instagram.
“It is really exciting to create a company, but also to create the next big revolution in terms of a technological transformation in how we work."
Bianca Anghelina
CEO, founder, Aily Labs
“It's basically a one-day integration from the moment we get the data,” Anghelina said. “You get the personalized insights based on your own company and a 360-degree view of the business.”
The app offers predictions and insights to guide decisions such as gauging whether a phase 3 trial should get the green light, tracking inventory to avoid shortages and finding places to save, cut or optimize staffing.
While AI brings advantages, it’s also known for its challenges, and Aily has systems in place to overcome them, Anghelina said.
“We have a very robust AI brain where we validate AI and put it into action,” she said, pointing out that this helps avoid problems such as “hallucinations,” or false information.
Navigating a crowded field
The app format distinguishes the company in an increasingly crowded space, Anghelina said. It’s the first mobile app for decision intelligence in corporate circles, she said.
The app enables big companies to broadly incorporate AI in a way that would typically take them months or years to do on their own, Anghelina said. And they don’t have to keep pace with rapid-fire advances in the field — the app does it for them, Anghelina said.
Its most promising potential may be its predictive abilities, a capability Anghelina said they hope to continue enhancing. The technology may also leap into the virtual reality world, paired with Apple Vision Pro, ushering in a new era in which decision-makers collaborate in a multi-dimensional space, she said. The company is also making moves to expand beyond the life sciences ecosystem, she said.
“It is really exciting to create a company, but also to create the next big revolution in terms of a technological transformation in how we work,” Anghelina said.
