Based in Montreal, a world-leading AI hub, Keatext counts on a team of elite researchers and AI professionals who combine academic rigor and practical experience across fields such as Natural Language Understanding (NLU), software engineering and product development.
Founded in 2010 by Narjès Boufaden, Keatext was one of the first AI solution providers to offer maximum business impact, with clients such as the Quebec government, Wajam and JLR. After five years in the professional services industry, Keatext launched its cloud-based AI-powered text analytics for feedback interpretation platform to help organizations improve the experience of the people they serve. That same year, Charles-Olivier Simard joined Keatext as a partner and CTO, bringing with him 15 years of experience in enterprise software. Since then, Keatext has built a robust team of dedicated scientists and technologists who share a passion for problem-solving.
A pioneer in applying Machine Learning for Natural Language Understanding (NLU), Narjès Boufaden started her career as an academic. She completed her PhD in Computational Linguistics in 2005 at the Université de Montréalunder the supervision of Dr. Guy Lapalme and deep learning guru Dr. Yoshua Bengio, and for a few years she worked as a researcher in several universities and research centers. When she realized that NLP for conversational text had promising real-world applications, she founded Keatext in 2010, becoming one of the first entrepreneurs to provide AI solutions for maximum business impact. In 2015, she successfully transitioned her company from a professional service provider to a product provider with a disruptive platform, attracting brands such as American Express, NASA and Bombardier Recreational Products.
MBA in Technology Management, Charles-Olivier Simard is a technology leader with over 18 years of experience in enterprise software. He has extensive expertise in the fields of computational linguistics, information management and search and semantic technologies, and has worked for a wide range of clients such as the Financial Times and the US Department of the Interior. Charles-Olivier joined Keatext as a partner and CTO in 2015. He has been critical to the success, development and evolution of Keatext, leading, advising and guiding its teams of researchers, developers and designers, as well as supporting clients and technology partners. Charles-Olivier is also a dedicated mentor at FounderFuel, Canada’s leading venture accelerator, which helps early-stage startups raise seed capital.