Make AI your business advantage.
Business experience plus hands-on engineering. We build and run AI, data and software systems that deliver a measurable return.
- 33bn+ tokens Processed by AI every month on platforms we build and run
- 22 clients Across banking, insurance, healthcare and more
- 4.6M pages Of documents read by AI every month
- 3,600 RPA runs Automated process runs every day on platforms we build and run
What we do
Half the job is knowing what to build.
Deciding what is worth building, and whether AI is even the right answer, takes business judgement. The other half is engineering: choosing the right model for the job, getting the data clean and the integrations solid, and writing the software that holds it all together. We have been delivering AI for clients since before GenAI and ChatGPT. We did not pivot to AI, it is part of our foundation.
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AI and machine learning
We apply AI and machine learning to real business problems, from predictive models and generative AI to computer vision, and make them work inside everyday operations.
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Data engineering and analytics
We design, build and run data platforms, pipelines and reporting across AWS, Azure and GCP, so the numbers people rely on every day are right and on time.
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Software engineering
We build the applications, integrations and interfaces around your data and AI, and keep them running.
How we work
From the right problem to results you can measure.
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01
Find the right problem
We start with the business, not the technology. Where can AI make a measurable difference?
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02
Get the data right
Clean, accurate data comes first. We build the foundation everything else depends on.
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03
Put it into production
We build and deploy inside your infrastructure, with people in the loop where it matters.
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04
Keep it running
We can operate, maintain and improve it for as long as you need us, or hand it over to your team.
How we engage
Confident enough to share the risk.
Advisory
We help you find the right problem and plan the way there.
Best when you want a second opinion before you commit budget.
Turnkey delivery
We build it and put it into production. We run it for as long as you need us, then hand it over when you are ready.
Best when you know the problem and want one partner to own delivery.
Shared risk and upside
On selected projects, we share the risk and the upside with you.
Best when the upside is big enough for us to invest alongside you.
Who we work with
Clients include Absa, Hollard, Bridgehaven Insurance, Bidvest, Fedgroup, Fidelity, Future Growth Asset Managers, Lift Airlines, Investec, Merchant West, Mobalyz, Momentra, Moore Global, Next176, Old Mutual, Outsurance, Proteotype, Rand Merchant Bank, Simitree Healthcare, Standard Bank, Veriphy and Vodacom.
Notes
Things we've learned by building.
Jev, and why AI calls don't always need a chatbot
TypeSafe's Jev doesn't write text. It makes decisions in a fraction of a second, for a fraction of the price of a chat model. Here's why that matters and where we'd use it first.
Read the note
Why enterprise AI stalls, and what we've seen work
The evidence on AI at scale is still mixed. Here's why we think so many rollouts stall, and what we've seen work in the businesses getting real value from it.
Read the note
Some things we've learned scaling LLM inference in production
One of the platforms we build and run processes millions of pages of documents every month. Here is what the volume taught us about cost, latency and keeping users trusting the output.
Read the note
Our people
Business judgement first. Engineering to back it up.
Chisl was started by two friends and former colleagues who spent decades in investment banking, from control functions to the trading floor. They have seen enterprises from the inside, so they know where the real problems are and what it takes to deliver against them. Around them is a team with serious engineering, data and financial services skill. That combination is why we start with the business question, not the technology.
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Dirk Strauss Co-founder
Dirk has 25+ years experience of which seven was with Deutsche Bank in the United Kingdom and Singapore, ten with Barclays Africa, now Absa, and five with Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa. Dirk is a qualified Actuary (FFA) through the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and a CFA Charterholder.
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Willem Kellerman Co-founder
Willem has more than 20 years experience of which seven was in the UK working at Goldman Sachs and then the bulk with J.P. Morgan London. Willem returned to SA and worked for ten years at Barclays Capital Africa, now Absa. Willem obtained an MSc from Imperial College London in Analytics majoring in Advanced Machine Learning, is an alumnus of the New York Data Science Academy, and a qualified Chartered Management Accountant in the UK.
Get in touch
Let's talk about the hard part.
Tell us the problem you're trying to solve. We'll help you work out where AI, data and software can make a real difference.