Computer Vision Specialist AnyVision Nets $28M in Series-A Funding

Israel-based computer vision specialist AnyVision has raised $28 million in a series-A round of investment, the company has announced.

It’s a development reflecting the broader excitement over computer vision technology, with this week alone having seen a couple of major acquisition and investment announcements for other AI firms. Much of the excitement is fueled by the government, law enforcement, and security applications of this kind of technology; and in this respect too, AnyVision is typical. The company teamed up with NVIDIA earlier this year to hone its facial recognition technology for CCTV applications, and recently announced that its technology would be used to secure a sports stadium in London.

Of course, along with the excitement over these kinds of applications, there is also growing concern about their privacy and civil rights implications, with major tech firms like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon having come under intense scrutiny over their dealings with government agencies. But AnyVision is trying to address some of these issues, with AnyVision CEO Eylon Etshtein emphasizing its facial recognition technology’s automated pixellation of faces in video feeds in a recent interview with TechCrunch. The privacy feature ensures that “even the operator in the control center cannot see your face because the mathematical models just represent the persons of interest,” he said.

Meanwhile, the company is also delving into other applications of its technology, including a mobile authentication system based on facial recognition, and a retail analytics system it aims to release this summer. Its latest funding should help along those efforts and AnyVision’s expansion more broadly, with the company aiming to open three new offices by the end of the year.

Source: TechCrunch

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July 20, 2018 – by Alex Perala