Bechtle AG has acquired a 51 percent stake in the Rostock AI company Planet AI GmbH. The company, which is active in the field of deep learning, is a spin-off from Planet intelligent systems GmbH and has been operating since 2015 with self-developed technological solutions for intelligent document analysis and process automation.
The AI specialist is a partner of research institutions and universities, but also of IT manufacturers such as IBM. Planet AI currently employs 41 people, mainly in research and development. The focus is on the self-developed AI platform PlanetBrain with patented core technology, on the basis of which the IDA (Intelligent Document Analysis) application was created. The AI solution is already being used in logistics, traffic monitoring, banks and insurance companies, in healthcare and in archives. The aim of Bechtle’s majority stake is to combine application-oriented AI research with the sales strength of Germany’s largest IT system house. Both partners are also interested in strengthening the AI ecosystem in Europe and taking a leading role in future innovations. In the past financial year, Planet AI generated sales of 3.1 million euros, despite its focus on research and development.
“As an IT partner of the future, we aim to make our customers successful in the long term through future-oriented technologies,” says Michael Guschlbauer, Board Member IT System House & Managed Services, Bechtle AG. “With Planet AI’s innovative developments, we strengthen our customers’ central business processes through excellent AI applications.”
Planet AI management remains on board
The existing management team, including the founder of Planet AI, will remain in the company in a new constellation: Jesper Kleinjohann will take over the management as CEO, Welf Wustlich will remain in the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Hagen Wustlich will move to the company’s advisory board. The brothers Hagen and Welf Wustlich have been working with artificial neural networks for more than thirty years and founded Planet intelligent systems in 1992, from which Planet AI emerged. “We know the outstanding quality of our developments. To accelerate our growth, we have been missing a partner who has very broad access to the market and the skills to further scale our solutions. Bechtle brings both – and the will to work together to make the enormous benefits of AI effective in the world of work,” says Jesper Kleinjohann, CEO, Planet AI.
Deep learning is Planet AI’s special discipline
Planet AI is considered an internationally recognized specialist in deep learning, a branch of machine learning in which the use of artificial neural networks plays an essential role. The core product is a multifunctional and comparable software platform with significantly superior accuracy, with which companies can automatically process handwritten and typewritten documents, receipts and texts, classify document types and extract information. Further areas of application include image and speech recognition.
www.bechtle.com
2023-10-02 11:14:22
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