12 AI startups that will boom in 2019, according to VCs

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Artificial intelligence is the next big technological wave, bringing new technologies, businesses and opportunities.
While the big tech corporations are all betting on AI, a number of startups are quietly pushing the AI boundaries AI to create smarter, faster apps and products.
Here's a list of AI startups that are on track to boom in 2019, according to the people closest to the startup world — the venture capitalists that watch, advise and invest in them.

As part of our comprehensive coverage of the startups that will boom in 2019, we asked the startup experts – venture capitalists – to name the startups they think are are going to be hot this year.

We asked them to tell us about companies within their portfolio as well as ones they haven't invested in but are hearing good things about.

One group of startups came up over and over again: those that specialize in artificial intelligence tech.

From AI robots to software that uses machine learning to automate tasks, here are Silicon Valley insiders' top AI picks, with funding information taken from Pitchbook, the deal-tracking database.

Appzen: automatically audit expense reports

Startup: AppZen

Total raised: $51 million

What it does: AppZen uses AI to automatically audit 100% of a company's expense reports, invoices and contracts in real time.

VC who selected it: Arif Janmohamed, Lightspeed

Relationship to the startup: Investor

Why it's hot in 2019: "Every company has employees who expense things that are out of compliance, out of policy or are just fraudulent. Similarly, every company has suppliers that game the system and push the envelope," says Janmohamed.

Atrium: using AI on legal documents

Startup: Atrium

Total raised: $75 million

What it does: Atrium is like the offspring of a law firm and a tech startup. It uses machine learning AI software to deal with ordinary legal documents and has lawyers who work on the complex legal issues.

VC who selected it: Nakul Mandan, Lightspeed

Relationship to the startup: No relation. Just thinks it's cool.

Why it's hot in 2019: "Legal advisory is a huge, huge industry that still operates pretty much the same way it operated two decades ago. Atrium is bringing together all the advancements in AI, workflow automation and collaboration to build a next-gen more scalable law firm," says Mandan.

Farmwise: self-driving, robot tractors

Startup: Farmwise

Total raised: $7.5 million

What it does: Farmwise has built an autonomous tractor that uses computer vision to cut weeds without the use of herbicides.

VC who selected it: Niki Pezeshki, Felicis Ventures

Relationship to the startup: Investor

Why it's hot in 2019: The tractor could help farmers save money and overcome labor shortages. "The autonomous tractor that drives over rows of crops and uses computer vision to determine if what it’s looking at is a plant or a weed. If it’s a weed, it uses scissors to chop it, and if it’s a plant, it doesn’t do anything," says Pezeshki.

"With only a seed round raised, they already have multiple tractors operating on farms in California and are generating significant revenue," he says.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider