RSM-supported AI company Trellis Data expands to Adelaide
After having recently branched out to the US, artificial intelligence specialist Trellis Data has now expanded to Adelaide, with a view to creating up to 500 local jobs over the next five years.
Established in Canberra in 2017, Trellis Data primarily provides data management solutions to the government and defence sectors, and was supported by RSM in building its business foundations. The new office will be overseen by former Air Force commander Mark Ryan.
“We are very excited about the future of the new office, continuing to advance the AI industry locally and contributing to the South Australian economy and tech community,” Ryan stated, projecting a $100 million local economic boost.
“There are many agencies looking to leverage the latest AI technologies, but they want to ensure they maintain control of their data and don’t see it go abroad. Trellis Data is at the forefront of providing industry-leading, secure AI solutions.”
Established by former APS Senior Executive Michael Gately and Rachel Gately previously of Deloitte, Trellis Data deploys the latest in AI and machine learning technologies in areas such as language processing and computer vision in an easy-to-use ‘no code’ platform, providing clients in the government, defence, biosecurity and logistics sectors among others with secure – and ‘explainable’ – knowledge management solutions.
Supporting Trellis from its early days was accounting and consulting firm RSM, which the Gatelys engaged to help evaluate opportunities in scaling the business, as well as for ‘outsourced CFO services’ such as ATO reporting, superannuation and for specialist tax advice around R&D investments.
More recently, RSM has provided company restructuring guidance to Trellis on setting itself up for international expansion.
“RSM has delivered value in a broad range of areas and helped us to navigate the landscape,” Michael Gately stated. “There are lots of opportunities we would have missed without their help. Although they assist with things like corporate responsibilities and financial statements, what was really important was having a sounding board for discussing problems and talking through ideas. The ability to do this in both a formal and informal sense has been great.”
Backed by the CSIRO’s Main Sequence innovation fund, the collaboration is beginning to bear serious fruit, with Trellis Data last year setting up shop in Arlington, the US defence and intelligence capital. As an example of its applications, the company’s deep learning platform can support law enforcement surveillance via highly accurate transcription and translation models which can listen for and instantly detect defined keywords and phrases.
“The opportunities of machine learning are now being realised around the globe and organisations are demanding AI tools that are straightforward to use, that can integrate with existing enterprise systems, and most importantly produce results they can trust,” Gately says. “At Trellis Data we want to democratise machine learning. We believe you shouldn't have to be a data scientist to leverage the power of AI and produce meaningful results.”
