Oakley Capital Buys Majority Stake in AI Tech Firm Graphwise

Oakley Capital has secured a majority ownership in Graphwise, a firm specializing in knowledge graph technology designed to enhance the reliability of artificial intelligence applications. This strategic investment, channeled through Oakley's Fund VI which recently closed at €4.5 billion, signals a significant endorsement of Graphwise's approach to tackling AI's critical "hallucination" problem and improving data governance.

Graphwise, a relatively new brand formed from the 2024 merger of Vienna-based Semantic Web Company and Sofia-headquartered Ontotext, offers a \"Semantic Backbone\" solution. This technology constructs machine-readable knowledge graphs that interconnect enterprise data, such as contracts, product details, and customer records. By providing AI models with structured, verified information rather than unstructured text dumps, Graphwise aims to drastically reduce factual inaccuracies and boost operational efficiency. The company reports that its approach can lead to accuracy improvements of up to 80% and cost reductions of up to 60% in AI agent operations by 2027, citing Gartner projections.

The transaction sees Oakley Capital acquiring the stake from a consortium of investors. This group was led by Integral Capital Group and included PortfoLion Capital Partners, Carpathian Partners, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). These entities were instrumental in backing the company even before the merger that created the Graphwise entity. The founders and management team, including President and co-founder Atanas Kiryakov, will continue to lead the company, underscoring a commitment to continuity and growth.

Oakley Capital's strategic objectives for Graphwise are clear: accelerate commercial expansion, bolster the go-to-market organization, increase international market penetration, and pursue strategic acquisitions within a market characterized as highly fragmented. The private equity firm anticipates Graphwise will achieve approximately 30% annual organic growth. This move aligns with the increasing demand for AI solutions that offer greater control and data sovereignty, a key selling point for Graphwise, particularly in sensitive sectors like financial services, life sciences, and the public sector, where data integrity is paramount.

The underlying technologies powering Graphwise have a deep history. Semantic Web Company, established in the mid-2000s, and Ontotext, founded in 2000, were pioneers in semantic technologies, knowledge modeling, and text mining long before the current AI surge. Their combined expertise, particularly in Ontotext's GraphDB database and Semantic Web Company's metadata software, forms the core of Graphwise's offering. This deep technical foundation positions the company advantageously as organizations grapple with the complexities and risks associated with advanced AI deployment.

Peter Dubens, Founder and Managing Partner at Oakley Capital, emphasized the critical role of trustworthy data in the evolving AI-driven business environment. He stated, \"AI is transforming how every organization operates, making reliable, well-managed data more crucial than ever.\" Atanas Kiryakov echoed this sentiment, expressing enthusiasm for the partnership with Oakley, noting their understanding of Graphwise's technology and aspirations. \"With Oakley as our paneuropean investor, we are better positioned than ever to scale globally as an AI-enabling platform,\" Kiryakov added.