Startup CrowdAI Inc. announced the official launch of its artificial intelligence-based customized VisionAI platform today alongside a $6.25 million round of funding.

Threshold Ventures led the Series A round, together with participation from Susa Ventures, Ron Conway’s SV Angel, Jerry Yang at AME Cloud, and Y Combinator. The raise brings its total funding to date to just over $10 million, following earlier seed and venture funding rounds.

CrowdAI has built a platform that companies can use to build customized visionAI tools that can be used to analyze imagery and video footage for a range of different purposes. The company explained that its offerings are suited to a range of industries.

For instance, manufacturing firms can use CrowdAI to create tools to analyze products on a production line to ensure they meet quality assurance standards. A car insurance provider can use CrowdAI to create an application that can analyze photos of vehicle damage to help automate any claims its customers make. The utilities industry is yet another example, with CrowdAI’s platform serving customers there by helping automate the visual inspection of infrastructure.

CrowdAI said it works extensively with the U.S. government in addition to numerous corporations. The main attraction of its platform, it said, is that it can cut time-to-value for custom computer vision projects in half by automating AI integrations and workflows. The beauty of CrowdAI’s offering is that it’s basically a no-code platform that anyone can use to make data-driven operational decisions, the company said.

“The full-stack solution provides all the tools necessary to go from raw pixels to structured insights relevant to a user’s specific needs,” it said in its pitch. “CrowdAI provides the support and strategy for determining if and how to implement an AI solution into your enterprise.”

The company said its platform has gained significant traction even before its official launch today, with a 200% increase in customers last year off an undisclosed base. It said that indicates a broader shift by the industrial and commercial sector toward intelligent automation.

CrowdAI founder and Chief Executive Devaki Raj said one reason for the company’s success so far is that it’s happy to work with anyone, including managers, engineers, marketers and data scientists, to educate them about its tools and AI workflows and the positive impact they can have. “With our new next-generation platform, we’re able to make vision AI approachable and intuitive to anyone in the enterprise,” she said.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said one of the key breakthroughs with AI in recent years is that machines and computers are now able to see and understand what’s happening in the real world, enabling possibilities that were seen to be in the realm of science fiction just a decade ago.

“Now we are seeing the maturation of that technology,” Mueller said. “Instead of having to use skilled, expensive and therefore hard-to-find data scientists, now business users can access this technology for their own needs too. CrowdAI is one of a number of promising startups that’s looking to put these powerful tools into the hands of business end users.”

CrowdAI said it offers a free web-based version of its platform, but those who are serious about its offering can pay for a subscription version that comes with custom enterprise assets.

Image: CrowdAI