SymphonyAI was built when Romesh Wadhwani committed $1 billion of his own money to fund the company through its early stages, structuring it as a group of separate AI companies—each with its own CEO—focused on specific industries like financial crime detection rather than competing broadly with big tech platforms. This vertical approach includes technology like Ayasdi's topological data analysis, which has helped uncover billions of dollars in tax evasion and money laundering while cutting false alarms compared to older systems, and is backed by a board that combines experience in finance, AI research, and large-scale enterprise operations.