Sparrho

About Sparrho

Sparrho, which now operates as Sparrow, was established in 2013 by Dr. Vivian Chan and Niluka Satharasinghe. The company originated from Dr. Chan's personal challenges in keeping up with vast amounts of scientific literature during her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. The initial idea was to 'digitize Steve', a postdoctoral researcher in her lab who was adept at recommending relevant papers to his colleagues.

Dr. Chan brought a background in life science investment and a PhD from Cambridge to the venture, while Satharasinghe contributed his expertise in machine learning from Oxford University. The two met through the Entrepreneur First program in London, which catalyzed their collaboration. This combination of experience shaped the firm's core mission: to make scientific knowledge more accessible and digestible. Prior to Sparrho, Dr. Chan worked as an investment process manager for a venture fund, and Satharasinghe had co-founded two other startups.

The company developed a platform that utilizes a blend of artificial intelligence and human expertise, a system they term 'Augmented Intelligence', to serve its clients. This technology aggregates, analyzes, curates, and summarizes scientific papers, patents, and publications from tens of thousands of sources. The service aims to help users discover relevant scientific content through personalized news feeds and expert-curated summaries, moving beyond simple keyword searches. The platform was designed for research professionals, members of the public with specific interests, and enterprise clients, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like pharmaceuticals and biotech.

Sparrho's business model appears to be centered on providing this curated scientific content to organizations to help them build trust and connect with their audiences. For individual users, it offered personalized channels and 'Pinboards' to save and organize articles. The company generates revenue by equipping organizations with the infrastructure and scientific resources to engage with researchers and demonstrate scientific credibility. In July 2017, the firm announced it had raised $3 million in a pre-Series A funding round to expand its team and scale the platform.