RiskAI establishes EU headquarter in Cologne

RiskAI Technologies GmbH, an innovative leader in AI risk management, has chosen Cologne as its new EU headquarters, attracted by the city's strategic location, robust support infrastructure and proximity to key European markets. We spoke to Rohit Kumar, President of FinPlus Tech, RiskAI's parent company, about their ambitious plans for the Cologne office.
 

What is RiskAI Technologies GmbH and what are your USPs?

As global innovation accelerates on the back of highly intelligent AI systems, it is more important than ever to ensure that AI applications are responsibly developed and that the end products are trustworthy. The recent EU AI Act was introduced with similar objectives in mind - to create lawful, ethical and robust AI applications.

Businesses, especially in regulated sectors have subsequently renewed their focus on comprehension and ability to systematically manage AI risks. This is more critical in regulated sectors such as Finance, Healthcare and the Public sector which have an outsized impact on society. Banks and Financial institutions are increasingly struggling to develop a coherent and systematic framework to address AI risk management on the back of the rapid pace of technological innovation and the novelty of the problems presented.

RiskAI provides three services and products which assist businesses, specially in regulated sectors create trustworthy and responsible AI which makes us unique:

1. Provides consulting and advisory services to help regulated businesses develop effective AI governance and risk management programs and ensure compliance to AI regulations including the EU AI Act.
2. RiskAI Platform is a SaaS which assists regulated businesses, specifically in Banking, Insurance and Capital markets in their AI Governance, risk management and compliance journey, specially as it pertains to the EU AI Act.
3. RiskAI Sentinel is a point tool which helps businesses using chatbots (specially AI powered chatbots) to monitor and remedy adversarial threats and enforce proper terms of use.

What were the main reasons for choosing Cologne as the headquarters to access the DACH market?

Our goal is not just DACH but the entire EU market. There are several reasons for choosing Cologne as a base:

• Geographical proximity to important stakeholders for a RegTech business - Brussels, Frankfurt, Amsterdam are all within two and half hours.
• Cologne as an Insurance hub is important - as the Insurance sector is expected to feature heavily in our business plans. Banking sector is also important for us and Frankfurt is only a 50 mins train.
• Proximity to RWTH Aachen which has a good technical reputation was another factor - as we need a highly motivated, highly educated workforce which is not very expensive.
• Cost structure in Cologne is reasonable compared to say Berlin and Munich. While not a long term factor, this has a bearing for startups where every penny counts.
• Support from the Cologne Economic development agency has been important. While this may seem trivial, for startups proper support infrastructure is extremely important - collaboration with universities, coordination and help with setup, assistance with networking - are all very important during the first two to three years.

What are your plans for the Cologne office over the next few years?

RiskAI technologies is a product and knowledge focused business and represents an intersection of technology, law and risk management. This requires a good interdisciplinary background. We would like to see Cologne develop as our global research and development hub given the proximity to Aachen RWTH as well as our sales headquarter for the EU market. Access to qualified talent and collaboration are very important as industry research and development is different from academia - it requires focus on ease of use, quality and robustness as much as performance - and this means a high degree of intense collaboration between founders, our existing AI leads, product managers as well as to be inducted AI researchers, legal and risk scholars. We hope to grow our research team in Cologne to over a dozen over the next two years with focus on AI, AI regulation and AI risk management research.

In your opinion, what are the main challenges international companies such as RiskAI face when expanding towards Germany? What would your best advice to these companies?

Paperwork and lack of digital alternatives is one such challenge for startups to establish in Germany. Unfortunately there is no way around it and it is important here to engage with good law firms and accounting firms which can help. Cutting corners here is not good - establishing a good foundation is important. However once these teething problems can be overcome I would suggest companies look at the bright side - relatively low cost for Northern Europe, good universities and a large market - these will significantly outweigh the short term costs.