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Assertion AI

Category: AI in Analytics & BI

An AI-powered platform that automates the entire data science workflow, from understanding business problems to delivering production-ready predictive models. Assertion AI was founded in 2025. The company is led by Yao Shepherd (Xie), PhD. Based in St. Louis, United States. Team size: 1-10 employees. Total funding raised: ~$500K total (Pre-Seed from AI2 Incubator). Latest round: Pre-Seed ($500K, AI2 Incubator). Key investors include AI2 Incubator (Allen Institute for AI), Missouri Technology Corporation.

Founded
2025
Headquarters
St. Louis, United States
Team size
1-10 employees
Total funding
~$500K total (Pre-Seed from AI2 Incubator)

Value proposition

To provide an AI that thinks like a senior data scientist, enabling the generation of production-ready data science solutions in minutes, thus saving time and resources.

Products and solutions

A platform that takes a predictive model definition and a data dictionary to automatically generate SQL queries, Python code, and a complete, production-ready data science pipeline.

Unique value

The core innovation is an AI system designed to mimic the reasoning and problem-solving process of a senior data scientist, going beyond simple task automation to understand the business context of a data problem.

Target customer

Businesses and organizations that need to build and deploy predictive models quickly and efficiently, without extensive data science teams.

Industries served

Not specified

Technology advantage

The primary advantage is the significant reduction in the time and expertise required to develop and deploy data science models. The platform's ability to automate the entire workflow, from data querying to model validation, provides a substantial speed and efficiency advantage.

How they differentiate

Assertion AI differentiates itself by focusing on automating the entire data science workflow, not just model training. Their platform is designed to 'think like a senior data scientist' by understanding business problems, reasoning through data, and delivering production-ready solutions. This contrasts with competitors that may focus more on automating specific parts of the machine learning pipeline.

Main competitors

DataRobot, H2O.ai, Databricks

Key partnerships

Selected to represent the St. Louis region at the Startup World Cup, indicating recognition and support from the local startup ecosystem.

Major milestones

2025: Founded in St. Louis, Joined AI2 Incubator (Allen Institute for AI), Won Startup World Cup St. Louis regional competition (Aug 2025), CEO Yao Shepherd PhD from Washington University - Olin Business School

Growth metrics

Not publicly available

Market positioning

Assertion AI is positioned as an intelligent automation platform for data science, targeting businesses that want to accelerate their AI/ML development lifecycle and reduce the manual effort required from experienced data scientists.

Geographic focus

Based in St. Louis, United States, Assertion AI's initial focus appears to be the North American market.

Patents and IP

Information not publicly available.

About Yao Shepherd (Xie), PhD

PhD holder, educated at Washington University in St. Louis - Olin Business School. Co-Founder & CEO of Assertion AI. Winner of Startup World Cup St. Louis regional competition.

Official website: