AI company chaired by ex-WANdisco boss to list on stock market and buy fellow Yorkshire firm

The company’s chief executive is Tom Clayton, who is also the founder of maintenance engineering and asset management specialist 53North, based at Dinnington, South Yorkshire.

It is planned that IntelliAM will acquire 53North, which already serves half the world’s top 12 food and beverage groups.

A filing on the intended Aquis admission said: “IntelliAM uses AI to increase operating efficiency of the company’s manufacturing clients.

"The company achieves this by harnessing vast amounts of data from the client’s machines and operational systems to provide insights for clients that encompass a broad range of areas, such as productivity, reliability and supply-chain optimisation, as well as energy efficiency and sustainability.

“The company is acquiring 53 Degrees North Engineering, to become the company’s consultancy division, which provides a range of asset care consulting and management strategies for manufacturers, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.

"The consultancy division has established relationships with some of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, with five out of the top 10 being existing customers.”

IntelliAM is part-owned by Sheffield-based Yorkshire AI Labs, founded by Mr Richards and business partners last June.

It followed his departure from data software firm WANdisco in April 2023 in the fallout of a fraud scandal an independent investigation blamed on an unnamed senior sales employee.

Mr Richards told The Yorkshire Post earlier this year he had personally lost around £20m in share value from the “devastating” situation. The value of shares in the company, since renamed Cirata, dropped by 96 per cent after more than $100m of “false” sales bookings were uncovered.

Mr Richards said in January he had set up Yorkshire AI Labs with the intention of helping regional companies make the most of the burgeoning possibilities of artificial intelligence and said his new firm wants “to create more publicly-listed businesses in Yorkshire than anybody has ever created”.

IntelliAM’s board includes Professor Keith Ridgway CBE, founder of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Sheffield and leading businesswoman Dame Julie Kenny, founding chair of the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust.

The company is due to list from July 3 with an initial 16.3m shares and a further 2.7m issued a day later following the completion of the 53North deal.

The Yorkshire Post understands it is hoped the listing will add £5m to the company’s valuation, taking its market cap to £18m.