🦊/People

William Tunstall-Pedoe

Investor

Investor at Cambridge Innovation Capital · Member of the Advisory Panel at Start Codon · Full member at Cambridge Angels group

London and Cambridge, UK

Writes $10K – $500K checks · typically $100K

Find your path to William

483 people in our graph share verified history with William — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Sean BrownleeunlockedWilliam: together at Fluent (2018–2020)
×2William: together at Ada Health
×4William: together at Creative Destruction Lab
William: together at Evi Technologies

About

William Tunstall-Pedoe is a British entrepreneur working in AI and deep tech. He founded the voice-assistant company Evi (originally True Knowledge) in 2005, ran it as a VC-backed startup for seven years, and sold it to Amazon in 2012, where its technology and team helped create Alexa; he played a key role on the Alexa team before leaving Amazon in 2016. In 2019 he founded UnlikelyAI, a deep tech startup building safe and effective general AI, where he serves as CEO. He is an active angel investor who has personally backed around 100 AI startups, a full member of Cambridge Angels, and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He also wrote the Anagram Genius software used by Dan Brown to create the anagrams in the Da Vinci Code and once drew press attention for calculating that April 11th 1954 was the most boring day in history.

Contact· published on William's own website

Invests in

AI & Machine Learning

Beyond investing

Founded
Founded the AI voice-assistant company Evi (formerly True Knowledge) in 2005, which Amazon acquired in 2012. Founded UnlikelyAI in 2019, a deep tech startup working on safe and effective general AI.
Communities
Is a full member of Cambridge Angels.
Awards
Is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). Was named in the MediaGuardian 100 list of most influential people in media in 2009.
Hobbies
Is a keen runner who completed the Cambridge Half Marathon in under 90 minutes.
More
Wrote the Anagram Genius software used by Dan Brown to create the anagrams in the Da Vinci Code novel and film, and is credited in all 80 million copies sold. Programmed a computer to solve cryptic crossword clues. Got press for calculating that April 11th 1954 was the most boring day in history.

From William's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Experience

  1. UnlikelyAICEO and Foundercurrent2019 — presentGreater London, England, United Kingdom
  2. Ada HealthAdvisorcurrent2017 — presentBerlin Metropolitan Area
  3. Cambridge Innovation Capital plcMember of the Advisory Panelcurrent2017 — present
  4. Cambridge AngelsFull membercurrent2016 — presentGreater Cambridge Area
  5. Genius 2000 LtdFounder and ownercurrent1998 — present
  6. Creative Destruction LabFellow2019 — 2022Greater Oxford Area
  7. Creative Destruction LabFellow2016 — 2020Greater Toronto Area, Canada
  8. Cambridge Judge Business SchoolFellow in Entrepreneurship2017 — 2022
  9. Fluent.aiAdvisor2017 — 2020Greater Montreal Metropolitan Area
  10. Career breakmyself2016
  11. Evi TechnologiesPrincipal Product Manager (Alexa and Amazon Echo)2012 — 2016Greater Cambridge Area
  12. Evi TechnologiesFounder and Chief Product Officer2012
  13. Evi TechnologiesFounder and CEO2005 — 2012
  14. Isaac Newton InstituteDeveloper1993 — 1994
  15. The Fourth DimensionSoftware Engineer1991 — 1992
  16. IOTA SoftwareSoftware Engineer1991
  17. University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSoftware Engineer1990
  18. Acorn ComputersSupport Specialist1990
  19. XOBSoftware Engineer1983 — 1990
  20. University of Minnesota, Division of EpidemiologySoftware Engineer1988
  21. GEC Hirst Research CentreASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) Research1988
  22. GEC Hirst Research CentreVLSI Research1988

Skills & more

Management9Leadership1conversational interfacesPythonC++Start-ups69Entrepreneurship47Artificial Intelligence38Software Development35Venture Capital14Machine Learning13Software Engineering10
+12 moreNatural Language UnderstandingProduct ManagementSpeech RecognitionMobile DevicesMobile ApplicationsIntellectual PropertyStrategic PartnershipsSemantic TechnologiesNatural Language ProcessingDistributed SystemsE-commercePatents

Languages English · French

  • XCS224N - Natural Language Processing with Deep LearningStanford University
  • Machine LearningStanford University (through Coursera)

From William's professional profile.

Investments

Investor

Ada HealthAibuildArtfinderblack.aiBloomsbury AICheckstepFluent.aiiSIZE TechnologiesKlydoLumiQMyrtle SoftwarePngmeSynervoz CommunicationsTABThinkSonoUnlikely AI

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring William Tunstall-Pedoe

How the corporate AI productivity lag is costing billions

Pathfounders

How artists are fighting back against AI in a ‘digital Wild West’

Channel 4 News

'AI will change the nature of work and jobs' - New government scheme launched

Mornings With Ridge & Frost

Language and intelligence | William Tunstall-Pedoe | CogX Festival 2023

CogX

The author writes about his work on True Knowledge's question-answering technology, including its first public demo via Quiz Bot, and about deciding to use Facebook for business contacts.

Colleagues at Cambridge Innovation Capital

Network1

Investors connected to William in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is William Tunstall-Pedoe?
William Tunstall-Pedoe is a British entrepreneur working in AI and deep tech. He founded the voice-assistant company Evi (originally True Knowledge) in 2005, ran it as a VC-backed startup for seven years, and sold it to Amazon in 2012, where its technology and team helped create Alexa; he played a key role on the Alexa team before leaving Amazon in 2016. In 2019 he founded UnlikelyAI, a deep tech startup building safe and effective general AI, where he serves as CEO. He is an active angel investor who has personally backed around 100 AI startups, a full member of Cambridge Angels, and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He also wrote the Anagram Genius software used by Dan Brown to create the anagrams in the Da Vinci Code and once drew press attention for calculating that April 11th 1954 was the most boring day in history.
Where does William Tunstall-Pedoe work?
William Tunstall-Pedoe is at Cambridge Innovation Capital.
What does William Tunstall-Pedoe invest in?
William Tunstall-Pedoe invests in AI & Machine Learning.
What check size does William Tunstall-Pedoe write?
William Tunstall-Pedoe typically writes checks of $10K – $500K.
What companies has William Tunstall-Pedoe invested in?
Investments tracked here include Ada Health, Aibuild, Artfinder, black.ai, Bloomsbury AI, Checkstep, Fluent.ai, iSIZE Technologies, Klydo, LumiQ, Myrtle Software, Pngme, and 4 more.
Where did William Tunstall-Pedoe go to school?
William Tunstall-Pedoe studied at University of Cambridge (MA, Computer Science).
What awards has William Tunstall-Pedoe received?
Is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). Was named in the MediaGuardian 100 list of most influential people in media in 2009.
What has William Tunstall-Pedoe written?
William Tunstall-Pedoe has 2 tracked posts on williamtp.com, including "Facebook for business \u2013 latecomer to the party", "First public demo of True Knowledge".
What podcasts and interviews feature William Tunstall-Pedoe?
Tracked appearances include "How the corporate AI productivity lag is costing billions", "How artists are fighting back against AI in a ‘digital Wild West’", "'AI will change the nature of work and jobs' - New government scheme launched", and 1 more.

Founder mafias

Same school

Shared employers