William Tunstall-Pedoe
InvestorInvestor 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
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483 people in our graph share verified history with William — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
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
- UnlikelyAICEO and Foundercurrent2019 — presentGreater London, England, United Kingdom
- Ada HealthAdvisorcurrent2017 — presentBerlin Metropolitan Area
- Cambridge Innovation Capital plcMember of the Advisory Panelcurrent2017 — present
- Cambridge AngelsFull membercurrent2016 — presentGreater Cambridge Area
- Genius 2000 LtdFounder and ownercurrent1998 — present
- Creative Destruction LabFellow2019 — 2022Greater Oxford Area
- Creative Destruction LabFellow2016 — 2020Greater Toronto Area, Canada
- Cambridge Judge Business SchoolFellow in Entrepreneurship2017 — 2022
- Fluent.aiAdvisor2017 — 2020Greater Montreal Metropolitan Area
- Career breakmyself2016
- Evi TechnologiesPrincipal Product Manager (Alexa and Amazon Echo)2012 — 2016Greater Cambridge Area
- Evi TechnologiesFounder and Chief Product Officer2012
- Evi TechnologiesFounder and CEO2005 — 2012
- Isaac Newton InstituteDeveloper1993 — 1994
- The Fourth DimensionSoftware Engineer1991 — 1992
- IOTA SoftwareSoftware Engineer1991
- University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSoftware Engineer1990
- Acorn ComputersSupport Specialist1990
- XOBSoftware Engineer1983 — 1990
- University of Minnesota, Division of EpidemiologySoftware Engineer1988
- GEC Hirst Research CentreASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) Research1988
- GEC Hirst Research CentreVLSI Research1988
Skills & more
+12 more
Natural Language UnderstandingProduct ManagementSpeech RecognitionMobile DevicesMobile ApplicationsIntellectual PropertyStrategic PartnershipsSemantic TechnologiesNatural Language ProcessingDistributed SystemsE-commercePatentsLanguages English · French
- XCS224N - Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning — Stanford University
- Machine Learning — Stanford 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-PedoeHow 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
Writing
All posts ↗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.
The author explains why he is finally opening his Facebook profile to business contacts, prompted by Facebook's ubiquity at Le Web 2008 and the launch of Facebook Connect.
The author announces Quiz Bot, a simple one-page site powered by a question-answering API that offers the first public exposure of True Knowledge's technology.
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
University of Cambridge mafia589
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 582 more
Creative Destruction Lab mafia69
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 62 more
Start Codon mafia10
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 3 more
Cambridge Innovation Capital mafia5
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Ada Health mafia3
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended University of Cambridge1,604
+ 1,598 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Ada Health11
+ 5 more
Also worked at Creative Destruction Lab219
+ 213 more


























































