Vickers Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focused on deep tech investments worldwide. The partners’ track records include hits such as Baidu.com, Inc, Focus Media Holding Ltd, Kongzhong Corp, Cambridge Real Estate Investment Trust, Sunfun Info Co., Asian Food Channel, UUCUN, TWG Tea, RTG Asia, JJE, Hillstone, M-Daq and Mainspring. The total market value of the companies that the partners have helped grow exceeds US$70 billion today. Vickers Venture Partners was founded by Dr Finian Tan together with his co-founders Dr Khalil Binebine, Dr Jeffrey Chi, Dr Damian Tan, Linda Li and Raymond Kong in 2005. It is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Miami, Silicon Valley and London.

Vickers Venture Partners

AngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. It is the parent company of AngelList Venture, AngelList Talent, and Product Hunt and has more than 20 unicorns in the portfolio. They support millions of job-seekers in their search and helped makers launch over 100,000 products that will define the future of tech.

AngelList

212 invests in growth-stage tech companies across Turkey, CEE, and MENA. Currently, our fund manages €75 million of committed capital, and 25 investments. Our strategy is to invest in B2B tech solutions that have demonstrated traction, a clear product-market fit, and are ready to scale internationally. ‘Test local, go global’ is 212’s guiding principle. In addition to investing in startups, we put significant effort into mentoring, supporting, and advising our portfolio companies. 212 was founded by a seasoned group of veterans with the common vision of cultivating an eco-system in Turkey and its region. Each of our team members brings to the table a proven track record of success in multi-cultural disciplines in both global corporations and start-ups and an unwavering focus on strategy, operation, and execution.

Sand Hill Angels is a group of Silicon Valley angel investors passionate about helping entrepreneurs get to the next level. What makes the group unique is the collective experience of its members building and scaling deep technology companies. The group has been around for more than two decades. Sand Hill Angels works openly and collaboratively with venture capital funds, other angel organizations, and the Bay Area ecosystem that fosters the growth of technology startups.  For additional information, visit www.sandhillangels.com or follow @SandHillAngels.com on Twitter.

Sand Hill Angels

Streamlined Ventures is a seed-stage investment firm investing in companies transforming verticle markets through Data Science, APIs, Blockchain/Web3, AI, and Software Automation.

Streamlined Ventures

Alumni Ventures Group provides high-quality, diversified venture portfolios to individual investors who previously haven't had access to VC. It helps accredited alums from top entrepreneurial schools invest together in the ventures of fellow alums. The firm backs companies with an alumni connection and an institutional lead investor with expertise in the space. AVG also offers focused funds that allow any accredited investor access to a venture portfolio, diversified by type, sector, stage, and geography. Beth Obermiller, Michael Madden, and Mike Collins co-founded the firm in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2013.

Alumni Ventures

Chooch

Chooch delivers generative AI technology combining computer vision and language understanding to deliver AI Vision that makes cameras intelligent. Chooch's AI Vision platform instantly detects visuals and actions in video steams, immediately comprehending their significance, and puts into motion real-time pre-programed responses to them. It does all of this in a fraction of the time a human being would even notice there is an issue.

<p><span>Chooch AI is a computer-vision-based machine learning platform that offers object recognition, facial authentication, action detection, and complex counting. The company’s API supports the integration of facial recognition for various applications such as media, advertising, banking, medical, manufacturing, and security industries. The Chooch AI algorithm can be trained with around five images or a video that matches faces using 512 biometric features. The software is also equipped with liveness detection to avoid spoofing.</span></p>

Facial recognition delivers incredible convenience to consumers, as well as serious risks.

Facial Recognition

Chooch AI

Chooch demonstrates power of AI vision to deliver efficiency and security

<div>
  <p>
    Founded in Spain, FacePhi offers a wide range of facial recognition identity authentication solutions for transaction approval and digital onboarding. FacePhi&rsquo;s Selphi software allows the user to conduct ID authentication by using a selfie. The selfie is encrypted and sent to the bank&rsquo;s database to be used in payee authentication. The encryptions ensure the user's privacy as the full image is not sent to the bank. The company&rsquo;s revenue increased by around 143% during the first half of 2020 (compared to the same period in 2019) on account of agreements with 10 new clients, compared to 13 new customers during 2019 (full year), indicating the growth potential of the company.
  </p>
  <p>
    In May 2021, FacePhi partnered with Revelock, a Spanish fraud detection company, to provide comprehensive identity verification and fraud prevention solutions for financial institutions. In February 2022, the company partnered with software company Oracle Cloud Marketplace, for the latter to work as a distributor for FacePhi's digital onboarding and facial recognition solutions. In November 2021, the company also partnered with airport operator Aena to offer identity verification for passengers and employees at a price of USD 1.7 million for four years. With the aim of expanding presence in the LATAM region, FacePhi established a regional office in Uruguay in March 2022, followed by an agreement with 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates?industryIds=16">
      Hites,
    </a>
     a Chilean department store, to use remote selfie onboarding technology to let Hites&rsquo; customers apply for credit cards online. In May 2022, FacePhi opened another
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10796?industryIds=16">
       office in the UK
    </a>
     to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    During the fiscal year 2022, FacePhi recorded net revenues of EUR 2.2 million ( ~USD 2.3 million), growing 69% YoY, and an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 4.3 million ( ~USD 4.6 million), unchanged from the previous year.
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


FacePhi

<p><span>Headquartered in the Netherlands, Sightcorp is an AI spin-off from the University of Amsterdam that develops patented proprietary AI Software solutions for mobile apps, including face detection (detect multiple faces in an image), emotion analysis, crowd demographics, and attention analytics. The main target markets of the company include retail, advertising, hospitality, and digital signage.</span></p><p><span>In January 2022, Sightcorp was </span><a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7828?industryIds=16"><span>acquired by Raydiant </span></a><span>, a provider of an in-location experience management platform, to jointly develop solutions for personalized on-screen, in-location experiences targeting retailers, restaurants, etc. Sightcorp expects to open offices in Lithuania and London in 2022 and to grow its European team from 20 to 100. Raydiant is also hiring across the US and internationally to accompany Sightcorp’s new offices.</span></p>

Sightcorp

<div>
  <p>
    Okaya offers a mobile app that aims to understand users&rsquo; wellbeing by using a combination of facial recognition technology, biometrics analysis (such as heart rate, weight, etc.), and machine learning. Okaya&rsquo;s facial recognition algorithm, developed in-house, analyses facial features obtained from a 15-second video recording where up to 30 frames are captured in a second. This data is evaluated along with other biometrics to determine a person&rsquo;s level of fatigue. The product claims to help create strong work teams and a robust work environment allowing the identification of areas where improvement is required.
  </p>
</div>


Okaya

<div>
  <p>
    Facetec offers a 3D face authentication software called ZoOm capable of high-performance liveness detection (verification of whether facial features captured are from a living subject). The software can work on smart mobile devices and webcams. The company also has patented technology to generate a 3D face map using a video selfie recorded even with a 2D camera. In September 2019, Facetec improved its product by embedding an age-estimation tool. Even though selfie-based authentication has become commonplace, many of them uses 2D facial mapping which makes it are vulnerable to spoofing attacks (trying to obtain access illegitimately by reproducing a person's face using images, masks, mannequins etc.) due to use of 2D mapping of facial features. FaceTec's technology is superior to others as it allows to create a 3D map of the face even with a normal 2D camera. While most other 3D face mapping requires designated hardware components, FaceTec's technology eliminates this requirement. Hence, it does not require app developers to rely on device manufacturers to incorporate additional hardware to use ZoOm. The company claims its product is one of the few companies to be certified in level 1 and 2 in iBeta Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) testing directed by an ISO standard. The software can detect digital and physical 'spoof artifacts' such as high-resolution photos and videos, masks and mannequins. FaceTec has over 100 customers across various verticals with an installed base of over 10 billion smart devices. ZoOm targets a wide range of markets ranging from banking, e-commerce, healthcare, insurance, e-voting, attendance, and government. Majority of FaceTec's customers are currently government and financial institutions.
  </p>
</div>


FaceTec, Inc.

<div>
  <p>
    FaceFirst offers facial recognition solutions mainly for access control as well as for identity authentication and real-time security. It focuses on retailers, airports, casinos, banks, as well as music and gaming events. The company also offers a mobile app (for iOS and Android) for facial recognition on the go. FaceFirst&rsquo;s facial recognition tool is mainly aimed at the retail segment, which accounts for around 50% of its business. FaceFirst&rsquo;s patented retail security platform can identify any known shoplifters or forbidden employees attempting to enter the store. Its products can be integrated with existing retail systems. 
  </p>
  <p>
    The company also introduced Mask-ID in November 2018, which instantly blurs identified faces without compromising accuracy. Additionally, the retail security platform allows its users to access the company&rsquo;s database of retail criminals, enabling them to include any individuals banned by the company itself. FaceFirst is one of the companies to work with lawmakers to help regulate the industry.
  </p>
</div>


FaceFirst

Companies that are developing facial recognition technology to suggest tags for photos uploaded on the platform, typically social media.

Companies that provide facial recognition technology for contactless and fast-payment gateways.

Companies providing tools to identify VIP customers and repeat customers by using facial recognition.

Companies that provide technology to monitor physical access to offices, retail stores, and residences as well as access to electronic devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, using facial recognition.

Companies providing facial recognition technology to identify people from live and recorded videos.

Companies that provide facial recognition technology to police and government agencies to identify criminals, protestors, unauthorized overstayers in the country, and departing passengers.

Facial recognition is a type of biometrics used to verify individuals

Used in smart city applications for access control

Facial recognition technology is built on ML models for training data

Chooch AI

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