Unitary

Unitary is a technology firm that develops AI-powered “Virtual Agents” designed to automate high-volume manual operations for businesses. The company was founded in London in 2019 by CEO Sasha Haco and CTO James Thewlis. The founders met through the Entrepreneur First accelerator program, uniting Haco's background in theoretical physics with Thewlis's expertise in AI and content moderation.

Haco holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge, where she worked with Stephen Hawking on the black hole information paradox. Her desire to solve complex problems with real-world impact led her to entrepreneurship. Thewlis has a DPhil from the University of Oxford in AI for visual recognition and previously worked at Facebook AI Research. Their combined expertise formed the foundation of Unitary's approach. The company name is a nod to the "unitary transformation" concept in physics, reflecting a commitment to scientific rigor.

Unitary's core product, Virtual Agents, mimics human workflows to automate repetitive tasks directly within a client's existing tools, eliminating the need for complex engineering integrations or system changes. These AI agents are designed to handle complete, multi-step processes with complex reasoning, and they can escalate tasks to human experts when necessary. The company guarantees human-level accuracy and offers an outcome-based pricing model, where clients pay per task rather than by user, with no upfront setup fees.

Initially, Unitary focused on AI-driven content moderation, helping platforms like Substack, Trustpilot, and Depop identify and manage harmful user-generated content by analyzing video, audio, text, and images simultaneously. The technology can classify millions of videos daily. More recently, Unitary has expanded its services into the insurance and e-commerce sectors, applying its automation technology to back-office tasks such as claims, submissions, renewals, and compliance. The company has demonstrated significant results with clients, including reducing costs by 50% and achieving over 99% automation in certain workflows.

The company has raised a total of $24.7 million through several funding rounds. This includes a $15 million Series A round in October 2023, led by Creandum with participation from Paladin Capital Group and Plural. This funding is aimed at bolstering research and development, expanding the team, and forging partnerships with major platforms.

Keywords: AI agents, virtual agents, operations automation, process automation, content moderation, multimodal AI, computer vision, insurance automation, marketplace operations, business process outsourcing, workflow automation, machine learning, contextual AI, visual content moderation, brand safety, claims automation, underwriting automation, Sasha Haco, James Thewlis, Entrepreneur First