AI start-up AnyVision is first beneficiary of Qualcomm Ventures’ $100m AI fund

AnyVision, a developer of face, body and object recognition technology, is the first beneficiary of Qualcomm Ventures’ $100m fund for AI-related investments.

The investment ties in with the fund’s avowed goal of providing capital to start-ups that build on-device AI – which means the AI that runs on a device, like a smartphone or vehicle, rather than in the cloud.

Qualcomm’s venture capital vehicle might have been drawn to AnyVision’s use of AI to protect data privacy, its proprietary algorithms and data acquisition strategy.

AnyVision also champions its technology’s scalability: “It’s not just how accurate the system is, it’s also how much it scales,” AnyVision CEO Eylon Etshtein told TechCrunch in July. “You can put more than 20 concurrent full HD camera streams on a single GPU.”

“We feel that Qualcomm Ventures has a cutting-edge approach in terms of where they want to be.” Eylon Etshtein, CEO, AnyVision

The cash injection will propel the Tel Aviv-headquartered company’s expansion into other industries and development of new AI applications.

AnyVision has already developed a smart surveillance camera that protects citizen’s privacy by exposing only the identities of parties of interest. It has built products for the sports, entertainment and retail industries, among others.

Qualcomm participated in the company’s Bosch-led, $28m Series A funding round in July.

“We feel that Qualcomm Ventures has a cutting-edge approach in terms of where they want to be,” said Eylon Etshtein, who co-founded AnyVision. “We are really glad and grateful to be the first investment in the AI fund”.

AnyVision customers and partners include Microsoft, Google, Telefonica, Axis Communications and Johnson Controls.

The company has already expanded from 20 to 130 employees in the past two years with offices opened in the US and UK and plans afoot for further sites in Los Angeles, London and Singapore.

Qualcomm develops intelligent, connected devices for a wide range of markets, including connected cars, remote delivery of health care services, smart homes and smart cities. Qualcomm Ventures’ previous AI investments include SenseTime, a Chinese AI facial recognition company, and Cruise, which is building AI-enabled autonomous driving technology.

Qualcomm Ventures announced the $100m fund for AI investments at its 5G & AI Summit in San Francisco.

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