7LYTIX CEO: “Predictive Analytics Will Become A Must-Have”

How would you describe 7LYTIX in a few words? What inspired you to create the company?

We’re experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science focused on very precise predictions for retail & supply chain management (SCM).

Franziskos Kyriakopoulos & Emmerich Danner, a brilliant AI expert and a retail consultant met, had a good idea, and founded 7LYTIX in 2016. In contrast to regular enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems which just tell you something about what happened, we predict the future with more than 90% precision. Our solutions can be used for planning, supply chain management, replenishment, avoiding overstock and out-of-stock situations.

You utilize AI solutions to put big data in the right context. How does this process work and what are some of the metrics that you take into account?

In a recent large test, 70% of our sales predictions for one month in fashion retailing of 10 million transactions, 17 retailers with 62 stores had a precision of at least 90% or better. For nine months they were still better than 80%. For us, it is all about data quality and highly refined AI-algorithms.

Apart from predictive analytics, you also work on predictive maintenance, image recognition, and a recommender system. How do the three come together?

AI is a universal tool in IT that changes everything. It can do things you cannot achieve with classical IT-methods. We gathered experts from physics, informatics, statistics, mathematics and others sciences. This creates a lot of cool ideas and helps us to continuously improve our solutions.

Among other industries, predictive analytics is becoming increasingly important for retail. German startup Lesara, for example, employs what they call “agile retail” to predict trends. What direction will predictive analytics take across industries?

Predictive analytics will become a “must have” as it increases margins and improves supply chain management and every kind of planning process. Nobody can afford large stocks anymore as the margins are getting tighter. The best algorithms will win the game. It is still hard to explain these complex issues to managers but the smarter ones are beginning to see the chances this technology offers.

In March 2017 – close to 7LYTIX’s first birthday – you closed a €1 million funding round led by CFP Holding. In what ways did the money support you and in which areas did you invest?

It allowed us to attract excellent AI experts for product development. Marketing is good and necessary but a good product is still our highest priority since – for us – it is perfectly measurable.

What is the biggest challenge that your company has faced so far?

Understanding the market mechanics and the customer. We had to learn to think from the customer’s point of view and this can take a while for Artificial Intelligence nerds.

What’s next for 7LYTIX? Can you share your plans for the upcoming year?

So many possibilities, so little time! Basically, the focus now is to move towards marketing and sales. We are constantly interested in partners from ERP, BI and Consulting to cooperate with.

What’s one piece of advice you can give to fellow founders for their startup?

Take care of every single cent! Equity is gold.

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