This Software Can Uncover the Questions CEOs Don’t Want to Answer

For as long as companies have hosted quarterly conference calls, analysts and journalists have tried to parse not just what a company’s executives say, but how they say it. Software from Amenity Analytics promises to automate this process by spotting when chief executive officers try to duck tough questions. The software, its makers say, can even pick up on the signs of potential deception that CIA and FBI interrogators look for—including stalling and the use of qualifiers—and can gauge the sentiment of what is said on calls and reported in public filings, issuing a positive or negative numeric score. The goal is to make it easier for investors to wade through information and quickly make trading decisions.

Amenity has just secured an additional $18 million in venture capital funding from investors that include former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg as well as insurance company Allstate Corp. Existing backers include Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of the chipmaker, and Israeli venture capital firm State of Mind Ventures. Amenity had previously raised $7.6 million in 2017.