Ultralytics Inc., a developer of computer vision models, today announced that it has raised $30 million in funding.

Elephant VC led the Series A round with participation from SquareOne. Ultralytics previously participated in Intel Corp.’s Ignite startup accelerator program.

Ultralytics develops the popular YOLO series of open-source computer vision models. The company says that its models are used more than 2 billion times per day to monitor crops, identify production line issues and perform other tasks. The GitHub repository that Ultralytics uses to host the algorithms is the fifth most popular in the world.

Computer vision models are usually based on an artificial intelligence architecture known as a convolutional neural network. The architecture is less versatile than large language models, but it can extract data from images faster and using less hardware. It’s also useful for video analysis tasks.

Ultralytics debuted its newest computer vision model, YOLO11, last September. It’s a convolutional neural network with optimizations that make it better at feature extraction than earlier algorithms. Feature extraction is the process through which an AI model identifies useful patterns in images. Ultralytics offers YOLO11 alongside more than a half dozen other open-source computer vision models. 

According to the company, its algorithms can not only identify objects in images but also perform segmentation. That’s the process of drawing a box around each item of interest. Highlighting objects in this manner makes it easier for AI models to analyze them, which increases output quality. 

Several of Ultralytics’ latest models include pose estimation features. Pose estimation is the task of identifying an object’s key elements and tracking their location. A factory monitoring model, for example, might use the technology to verify that all the components of a newly assembled home appliance are in place.

The company generates revenue by licensing its open-source models to enterprises for use in commercial projects. It counts Siemens AG, Duolingo Inc. and STMicroelectronics NV as customers.

Ultralytics will use its new funding to expand the YOLO algorithm family. In parallel, it plans to productize the models by using them to power a new lineup of applications. It will grow its go-to-market team to drive adoption of the upcoming offerings.

Image: Unsplash