AI photography startup Camera Intelligence has raised $2m (£1.4m) in a seed funding campaign that will help it continue developing its advanced camera and automated editing software.
The funding includes £550,000 from Digital Catapult, along with investments from Betaworks, F4 Fund, Next Wave via Flybridge and 7pc Ventures.
Born out of Digital Catapult’s AI innovation accelerator, the London-based startup has developed a professional DSLR camera featuring a Micro Four Thirds sensor and an interchangeable lens mount.
It’s powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC and Google Coral Edge TPU processors, which are typically found on smartphones. According to Camera Intelligence, bringing smartphone-quality processing to a DSLR camera is a unique feat.
The camera also sports an advanced AI assistant that, when connected to a user’s smartphone, allows easy editing through natural language processing. By interpreting user voice commands, it can automatically perform tasks like setting up the camera and taking photos with specific visuals.
It’s aimed at creators who may not have the technical knowledge or time to learn how to use an advanced camera system or professionally edit photos. Camera Intelligence’s AI large-language model will launch on iOS this autumn.
With these funds, Camera Intelligence intends to expand its research and development activities to speed up product development. Investment will also be spent on go-to-market efforts in the UK and globally
Vishal Kumar, CEO of Camera Intelligence, said: “With a radical new interface that leverages AI, we’re bringing assistive content editing capabilities directly into our camera system and aim to dramatically lower barriers to entry.”