Designed for fast-moving projects restricted by budgets and governance

Google-backed startup Algorithmia has launched a new edition of its AI platform, designed to make it easier and more cost-effective for companies to build and deploy artificial intelligence models.

‘Teams’ is aimed at specialist groups within organizations that want the performance of an enterprise-grade MLOps platform with the cost flexibility of a cloud-based service.

Algorithmia’s platform enables developers to store and collaborate on project assets, while simplifying the logistics of turning a newly-developed neural network into production-ready software that can be deployed at scale.

Teams Basic offers the same functionality, but through a pay-as-you-go pricing model charged on a CPU/GPU consumption basis, with no monthly fees. Teams Professional meanwhile, offers the same features and is charged in the same way, but comes with advanced support and custom language options for an additional $299 per month.

Freedom and flexibility

Despite the agile nature of machine learning initiatives, many are still connected to enterprise organizations that demand strict governance and security standards. Teams aims to address these challenges.

“Teams Edition is perfect for high-performing teams that want to get ML-based applications up-and-running quickly, while maintaining the flexibility to use our platform more extensively if it suits their needs,” Diego Oppenheimer, CEO of Algorithmia, said in a statement. “From a timing and value perspective, it’s the best of both worlds for companies that are serious about deploying ML applications.”

Teams will certainly be a welcome model for those intending to use it, but it stands to bring Algorithmia a host of benefits, too. The low-cost nature of the service could help set the company and its offerings apart from other AI tooling providers, and enable its customer acquisition efforts going forward, since AI initiatives often start small.

The company – which has seen around $40 million finding to date – received the first publicly-announced investment from Google’s dedicated AI fund, Gradient Ventures. Anna Patterson, head of the fund, said at the time that they “were impressed by Algorithmia’s engineering capabilities and community promise.”