July 24, 2025 – Cortical.io today announced the reappointment of co-founder Francisco Webber as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2025. Webber, the inventor of Semantic Folding—a patented, neuroscience-inspired machine learning method—originally co-founded the company in 2011 to commercialize this technology in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). Over the past decade, he has guided Cortical.io through several strategic pivots, evolving its offering from a self-service NLP platform to enterprise-grade Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) software, establishing a presence across Europe and the U.S, and building a Fortune 500 client base. Now, Webber is poised to lead the company into its next phase: tapping into the rapidly growing market of intelligent operations.
Semantic Folding is a groundbreaking approach to information processing that uses significantly fewer computing resources than traditional deep learning or large language models. Initially applied to text analysis, the technology powers Cortical.io’s flagship product, SemanticPro, which automates document-centric workflows. For example, it can extract and interpret complex data from insurance documents to accelerate quoting or classify large volumes of incoming emails to enhance customer service efficiency.
Recently, Cortical.io has extended the application of its semantic technology to sensor and radar data analysis through several research initiatives. The results highlight the technology’s potential for Sensor Fusion enabling early-stage anomaly detection and the integration of multiple, heterogeneous sensor data streams at the edge. Critically, Semantic Folding for Sensor Fusion (SF2) addresses problems that are typically challenging or inefficient to solve with conventional methods. These advanced capabilities open new opportunities for Cortical.io to expand into predictive maintenance, smart grids, and other intelligent operations use cases.
“Innovation has been at the heart of Cortical.io since its founding in 2011 and remains deeply embedded in our DNA,” said Webber. “With its ability to interpret vast, disparate streams of sensor data in real time—even in remote and harsh environments—SF2 has the potential to revolutionize how operational systems are monitored and how failures are detected.”
In industries such as energy and utilities, where unplanned downtime can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, an edge-based sensor fusion engine like SF2 could save billions. By reducing anomaly detection times from days to minutes and enabling full asset observability, Cortical.io’s solution offers game-changing operational intelligence.
The Cortical.io Sensor Fusion platform will include software for processing real-time sensor data streams, a management workstation for training and monitoring, and dedicated edge hardware with sensor bus integration, FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), and ARM architecture. A first release of the SF2 platform is planned for Q3 2025, with broader availability expected in early 2026.
Francisco Webber | CEO & Co-Founder | Cortical.io
