Startup Aristotle Technologies takes significant step with active investor

Maurits Overmans, co-founder and CEO of Aristotle, has been working with a team for a year and a half to develop software products that allow users to improve their cognitive skills.

Think for instance of soccer players learning to make faster, better decisions. Together with PSV, they have developed a first version of the product. Users can also be children with learning disabilities or social workers who need to make the right decisions quickly in difficult situations.

Since the start of Aristotle, through the efforts, knowledge and motivation of the team a growth has been achieved showing a promising potential. The TU/e innovation Space environment has been of great value in this says Overmans. "It has accelerated our development as entrepreneurs. Team members are now graduating and we want to keep them on board."

Next step

Aristotle was ready for the next step which required a combination of expertise and investment. "We searched for someone who understands what stage Aristotle is at, someone who has successfully run a software company, and who wanted to make an investment to retain team members."

Dr. Erik-Jan van der Linden is very familiar with TU/e. Having worked in both industry and universities, he knows both worlds well. In 2004, he co-founded the data visualization company MagnaView with Jack van Wijk, professor of computer science at TU/e. "Jack van Wijk is one of the international cracks in that field."

"Soon we started adding the process mining work of a colleague, Wil van der Aalst, as well. After a merger in 2016, the name was changed to ProcessGold. The combination of data visualization and process mining was a good choice as ProcessGold grew and was sold to AI company UiPath in 2019."

Supervisor at TU/e innovation Space

Van der Linden was a supervisor in the TU/e innovation Space program. "Guru is the title given to experienced entrepreneurs who help student teams in that program. I have always enjoyed working with masters students immensely, at university and in my companies. As a result, you build an understanding of how things work before and after graduation.

"After selling ProcessGold, I had time to mentor some teams. Aristotle has a great proposition and great product, and a great talented team.

Aristotle was ready to take the next step as a startup, and grow into a successful software company. That's exactly where I can play a role."

Eindhoven AI Systems Institute

Van der Linden is also very happy with the involvement of Prof.Dr.Ir. Wim Nuijten, "TU/e professor and scientific director of the Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute (EAISI), who, like me, has an advisory role, but in the technical field. Aristotle is going to grow into a fantastic company."

Overmans is enthusiastic. "We've met with institutional investors, and we continue to meet with them, but for now we have someone on our team who brings hands-on experience, and who knows what it's like to successfully grow a software company: the team is ready for this step. "