Startup SILQ aims to streamline business communication

The EPIcenter's 2016 Logistics Innovation Accelerator launched in May with four start-up businesses. Sponsored by Fed Ex, the 15-week accelerator provides entrepreneurs with an intense, mentorship focused program where they learn market validation, how to refine their business models, and proofs of concept. 

 

Logistics's Innovation Accelerator participant Borhan Samei has lived in Memphis since 2012 and is a PhD candidate at the University of Memphis. Samei and his co-founder Jan Bouten developed the idea for their company SILQ prior to joining the accelerator.

"The name SILQ was inspired by silk, which is the strongest form of connection in nature," said Samei. SILQ is a machine learning/A1 platform for businesses and professionals to help manage their relationships and professional network. "Our generic solution is a smart email plugin that works side by side the email apps, automatically captures information, runs analysis, learns insights and presents it to the user in context as they are communicating with their clients and colleagues," explained Samei. 

 

The Accelerator has taught Samei a lot about business development and addressing the competition and pain points SILQ aims to eliminate. 

"IBM and Google have been building a similar type of platform but they are still in the development process," said Samei."We focus on making our solution as easy and simple as possible while keeping the technology as powerful as possible. Our solution brings machine learning technology to business. Given data from different sources our platform turns them into meaningful insights and this process is fully automatic -- while the other systems require a handful of data analysis skills, our platform does the job automatically."

 

Demo Day on August 11 is the culmination of the three month accelerator, where each team presents their business to investors, business leaders and community supporters. A total of 18 startup teams are building and launching their ideas in Memphis as part of a collaborative Summer of Acceleration, including teams from EPIcenter, Start Co. and Zero to 510 

Post Demo Day the founders of SILQ intend to launch their pilot program and expand their infrastructure along with fundraising and onboarding new customers. "I am optimistic about the future of this company," said Samei.