AI Tech firm, OJO Labs, among leading companies drawing world-class talent to Austin
AUSTIN, Texas, May 28, 2019 – OJO Labs, a leading-edge technology company on a mission to empower consumer decision-making through its conversational AI assistant, OJO, won the highly coveted 2019 A-List Award among mid-sized companies from the Austin Chamber of Commerce in partnership with SXSW.
This brings OJO Labs’ major award count so far this year to eight, dominating national and local “Best Places to Work” lists, including Inc. Magazine’s “Best Workplaces 2019,” Fortune Magazine’s 2019 list of “Best Places to Work,” Austin Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work in 2019,” and Built in Austin’s “Best Places to Work in 2019.”
The Austin-based company was also a winner of the “Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award” from Business Intelligence Group, named the “Best Digital Property Search Platform” by Corporate Vision Magazine, received HousingWire’s biggest honor, its TECH100 list, and honored with the prestigious “2019 Red Herring Top 100 North America Award.” Winning the Red Herring award, which is judged by industry experts, insiders and journalists on a wide variety of criteria including financial performance, innovation, business strategy, and market penetration, is a significant achievement with previous winning alumni including Alibaba, Google, Kakao, Skype, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube.
“These awards are a reflection of the incredibly talented and passionate people we have working at our company,” said John Berkowitz, CEO of OJO Labs, “our vision and dedication to developing technology, products and exceptional customer experiences is a part of the fabric of our culture. Inherent in these awards is the character of an intelligent team collaborating to solve some of the biggest challenges and executing on our goals. As we continue to hire across all departments and office locations, we are accelerating our scale to serve millions more consumers.”
Angela Dunham, COO of OJO Labs, notes that the “Best Places to Work” awards were based on independent surveys of its team members. “When you win an award recognizing the company, it’s a special honor. But when you win an award that is rooted in how the people you hire feel about working at their company, it’s priceless,” she said.
OJO, the machine-powered assistant, helps consumers with answers to any questions and access to all kinds of real estate information through vast databases of online and offline sources. Accessing listing details, home features, neighborhood selection, budget or financing guidance, and education surrounding one of their largest purchases, is in their hand all the time. Consumers have the control and ability to source information without pressure, or get connected to a professional when they are ready. OJO works in partnership with leading REALTORS® and matches them with highly qualified agents who can best serve their needs based on their customized profile. By providing both parties with a foundation of information through a warm hand-off, OJO helps to establish trust between the agent and the consumer from the start.
Now in its ninth year, the 2019 A-List Award from the Austin Chamber of Commerce and SXSW honors breakthrough local, homegrown companies. Some 165 firms were nominated and considered for the award. A panel of independent judges evaluated businesses in three investment stage categories: start-up, mid-size and scaling. OJO Labs’ A-List Award was for a Mid-Size firm receiving more than $10 million in funding.
“Austin was recognized as the number one city to live by U.S. News this year, and it is a growing hub of incredible talent,” noted Berkowitz, “Our founding headquarters was launched in Austin to bring together generations of talent, build an exceptional company and have an impact on the community of such a vibrant, expanding city.”
Recently, OJO Labs raised $45 million in Series C funding to accelerate its development and expansion. The company has increased its market-leading position as it continues to hire and build world-class data science, engineering, product and design teams.
OJO Labs is rapidly expanding in each of its three offices — Austin, where OJO Labs’ headquarters is based; Minneapolis-St. Paul, where last fall, OJO Labs combined with leading real estate data services provider, WolfNet; and St. Lucia, where the company operates its AI training and customer service teams. A list of current career opportunities with OJO Labs is available at https://corporate.ojo.me/careers.
About OJO Labs Inc. – OJO Labs is on a mission to empower people to make better decisions through the fusion of machine and human intelligence. The company’s unique, patented AI technology products can conduct text conversations with consumers at scale. By combining natural language understanding with data and personalization, the products allow consumers to deeply engage in a purchase process before interacting with a salesperson. OJO Labs is backed by the two most active VC firms in Texas, leaders in real estate and financing industries, as well as key industry executives. OJO Labs has been recognized as a Best Places to Work in Austin by the Austin Business Journal, an Austin A-List and 50 On Fire winner, recognized in Comparably’s 2018 Best Company Culture Awards, named a Built In Austin 2019 Best Company to Work For, and a 2019 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Awards recipient. The OJO team has decades of combined success scaling businesses and deep experience in data science, engineering, product marketing and operations.
Media Contact:
Christine Jacobson
415-595-8787
