Chooch.AI raises US$2.8m in seed round led by Vickers Venture Partners

VISUAL recognition artificial intelligence (AI) startup Chooch.AI has raised US$2.8 million in a seed round led by venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners to expand its market and grow its team, according to a company announcement on Thursday.

The funding round included a number of angel investors.

Chooch.AI said that it will use the funds to expand its market reach and to grow its team, including hiring additional engineers.

Chooch.AI is an artificial intelligence training platform for recognising objects and faces. When presented with images or videos that contain objects or faces that it has been trained to recognise, Chooch.AI returns metadata such as a person's identity or the model of a helicopter, the company said.

"Chooch's novel technology, with its focus on AI training and flexible integrations, means that it is uniquely positioned to be an end-to-end, deep learning visual AI solution, and an alternative visual solution to Google Vision or Amazon Rekognition. We look forward to working closely with the Chooch team as they expand across regions," Vickers Venture Partners chairman Finian Tan said.

Vickers Venture Partners specialises in early-stage investments in Asia, and its portfolio covers the life sciences, technology, media and telecommunications, as well as consumer and financial services. The firm raised US$230 million in 2017 with a global mandate, with a particular focus on deep tech across the globe and impact investments in emerging markets.