Our Investment Thesis in InteleX Vision
“Attention, smoke detected in warehouse #3” “Attention, unidentified male subject is crossing the protected perimeter” “Attention, car driving in pedestrian area”. You probably thought of some science fiction movie with super intelligent video surveillance systems. Fiction no more. Inveready’s new portfolio addition, InteleX Vision, developed the iSentry software to bring unparalleled intelligence to CCTV systems.
Prior to investing in Intelex, we had seen dozens of video analytics start-ups and well-established companies, to a point we almost decided to stay away from that red ocean. Intelex, our first UK investment, had what it takes for such challenge:
- a unique and holistic approach of real-time video analytics supported by a highly differentiated product, and
- a perfectly tailored go-to-market strategy led by an A-class multinational team expert of the sector.
Not to forget our great partner Adara in the £2.5m co-investment.
The holistic approach: any incident, anywhere
Within hours, iSentry self-learns the normal set-up seen by a security camera, and any unusual pixel variation in that image creates a trigger. iSentry’s Deep Learning based Artificial Intelligence then enriches this event, providing a description of the incident, and, once processed by the Rules Engine can be sent in the form of an alert to an operator in the control center: fire, robbery, thrown objects, perimeters intrusion, you name it. All this is done with a minimum of false positives: you don’t want a roaming bird to bother the control room.
Most video analytics products are built compiling use cases. In the case of iSentry, the product is built to discover by itself new use cases. Interestingly, such use cases often are events of interest undetected by operators of control rooms, whom, after watching several screens for hours, would normally get tired. What are the chances that an operator detecting someone discretely lingering around an ATM? ? While it is arguably probable that, similar to how AI solutions are disrupting blue collar employment, this holistic approach might make the existing tasks of some operators redundant and thus cause the loss of some jobs in the long term, it undoubtedly creates a healthier and more enjoyable work environment for operators, who would manage the alerts generated by iSentry instead of looking at screens 24/7.
Deep diving into the tech, a key component is data processing, which is done with very little computing power. The reason is that iSentry analyzes images at pixel level, uncommon in the market, instead of running full renders of each image to process it. This enables multiple product deployment strategies and offers additional savings in terms of overhead costs to the client. This also allows real-time alert generation in remote sites with low bandwidth connecting them to the control room.
The experts are ready to take on the Market
InteleX Vision’s expert co-founders Callum Wilson and Michael Vorstman built the A-team, snatching sales and product ex-employees from companies recently acquired by the two giants Canon and Motorola dominating the video surveillance sector, as well as incorporating veterans of the ecosystem and relying on exceptional scientists to develop algorithms and on advisors for product, networking and strategy. The team has well balanced its account-based marketing and channel marketing strategies, setting at least a foot in all geographies worldwide, with world-class distributors, resellers and integrators.
The full integration of iSentry in the Milestone Systems suite as a plug-in, boosted by recently being awarded Technical Gold Partner Status, is a main catalyst for the startup’s scalability. The struggle most video analytics companies, especially small ones, face in that red ocean, is visibility: almost no one knows about them. Clients typically buy closed-system security cameras with their recording and analytics software such as Motorola’s Avigilon, or buy cameras with a separate video management system such as Milestone (#2 worldwide, by Canon) and where analytics software are add-ons.
Milestone clients can try iSentry with a few clicks, and new clients can discover iSentry though Milestone. 2 in 1: lead generation and sale cycle shortening. With the latest fundraising, the team is good to cope with those new leads!
“Attention, new unicorn in the making!”
Peter Khayat
Investment Associate at Inveready
