RALEIGH – Artificial Intelligence startup Pryon, led by veteran tech entrepreneur Igor Jablokov, is positioning itself as a serious contender for more AI business thanks to an infusion of $20 million in venture capital.

Pryon, which focuses on making AI more usable by companies, had previously raised some $4.5 million.

Pryon

“@Pryon’s $20M Series A round will speed #enterpriseAI adoption by delivering an #AugmentedIntelligence platform that connects employees to digital transformation to use knowledge, drive workflows, and make better decisions from wherever they are,” the startup declared via Twitter.

Backers of the new round include the Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, a creation of AOL founder Steve Case’s Revolution, along with Breyer Capital and Greycroft as well as previous investor Digital Alpha Advisors.

“The Third Wave of technology will bring about great opportunities for enterprises that are willing and able to innovate,” Case declared in a statement.

“Pryon is delivering solutions to empower employees and enterprises to tackle the challenges brought on by this next wave of technological progress. They are another great example of a company that is successfully building disruptive technology outside Silicon Valley.”

Pryon is one of several AI startups in the Triangle that are making headlines with fundings, products and development.

Jablokov sold his previous company, Yap, to Amazon, and its technology was incorporated into smart speaker technology Alexa. IBM Watson also is listed as a user of technology developed by Jablokov.

Triangle entrepreneur and investor Scot Wingo earlier this year listed Pryon as one of his Triangle “tweeners,” a company he expects to deliver strong growth.

“Igor Jablokov sold his last company, Yap, to Amazon and they use it in this niche product called Echo/Alexa, so Igor has a really serious AI/Natural language background,” Wingo wrote.

“He’s now turning that experience to the enterprise and leveraging AI/Voice for new enterprise solutions.”

Triangle Angel Partners and Carolina Angel Network invested earlier in Pryon.

“There is an opportunity for organizations to revolutionize their workplaces by giving employees the power of AI at their command,” Jablokov said in a statement. “We fill the market space between emerging technologies that are difficult and expensive to implement and existing products that are designed for simple rules-based services.”

The firm says it delivers “augmented intelligence to enterprises by combining the best of people and machines to maximize performance. Pryon’s technology unlocks a new level of employee productivity while reducing the complexity, cost, and duration of AI deployments.”