Waterloo-based machine-learning company Maluuba said Wednesday it has closed a $9 million Series A funding round.

The company, whose technology helps machines to think, reason and communicate with human-like intelligence, said the venture capital investors in the round were Emerillon Capital of Montreal and Nautilus Venture Partners of Silicon Valley. There were also undisclosed strategic investors that participated in the round.

Maluuba, which was founded in 2011, said the funding will be used to further enhance its deep-learning research and development, as well as product expansion in the automotive and Internet of Things sectors. The company’s platform is already integrated across more than 50 million devices.

“At Maluuba, we’re focused on solving cutting-edge problems in artificial intelligence, specifically in natural language understanding, to give machines human-like intelligence,” said CEO Sam Pasupalak in a statement. “We’re integrating this technology into a portfolio of products to make interactions with smart devices easier and more seamless than ever before – and this funding will open the door to even more possibilities for us.”

The company also said it has expanded its board to include Dave Grannan, a previous Vice-President of Nuance Communications and now the CEO of Light, as well as Nautilus Managing Director Brian Kang and Emerillon Managing Director Ludovic Andre.

“Natural language is the unsung hero of deep learning right now, and Maluuba has the chops to significantly advance how we think about and interact with all the machines in our lives,” said Grannan. “Maluuba’s innovation in natural language understanding brings me back to my Vlingo roots and I’m excited to support the next wave of change with the bright minds at Maluuba.”

Added Andre: “No one is tackling deep learning like Maluuba. Their ability to customize solutions for partners in a variety of industries gives them the edge we look for and makes us confident in their potential as a long-term partner with patient capital.”

Maluuba has now raised a total of $12 million in funding.