Vizzio secures funding from Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks, will establish new Hong Kong office

[SINGAPORE] Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered surveillance and 3D-mapping startup Vizzio has secured undisclosed funding from Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks (HKSTP).

The Singapore-based startup secured funding from HKSTP’s Corporate Venture Fund, with HKSTP leading the round of funding.

With the investment, Vizzio will continue its research and development and expand its sales team, with a new office to be established in Hong Kong at HKSTP.

“We really need to run and expand our sales organisation,” Jon Lee, founder and chief executive officer of Vizzio told The Business Times.

The startup is already working with the Hong Kong police, which has been requesting for a local office to provide support. Being in Hong Kong will allow Vizzio to tap into the Chinese ecosystem.

“I’m particularly interested in that part of the world because of all the Chinese tech,” said the CEO. He added that as much as the startup wants to use its know-how in the West, being a part of the Chinese ecosystem would help it learn a lot.

Vizzio’s platform can create a 3D map of a location using satellite imagery and its cameras under the Polytron brand that can map out rooms.

One of Vizzio’s cameras has higher resolution and the ability to capture a 360-degree field of vision, unlike those made by its competitors.

“In most projects, on average, our one camera replaces six to seven cameras. When you reduce the number of cameras, you also reduce the cabling cost, manpower, installation cost, and switches. If you do the math, we are significantly cheaper and more cost-effective than Chinese solutions,” said Lee.

HKSTP’s investment comes about a year after media reports revealed that Lee had faked his credentials and client list. After the incident, some investors pulled out of Vizzio. Singtel’s Innov8, for example, sold its stake.

But there were those who remained to support Lee, who now wants to return the favour. “I hope you can judge me on my future (endeavours),” he said.

Eye on the Middle East

Since the incident, Vizzio has beefed up with a number of senior hires, such as deputy CEO Anwar Abdullah, former chief executive of the Home Team Academy, as well as chief technology officer Tay Yeow Koon, the former deputy CEO of Synapxe.

It has also been aggressive in the Middle East in the last three years. A result of that was a deal signed with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and iot squared, a joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and STC.

This strategic agreement will bring the startup about US$100 million in commercial contracts in the next three years.

It has met interested parties, such as Saudi’s Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sport, with the Ministry of Sport being particularly interested as the country gets ready to host the Fifa World Cup in 2034.

Vizzio is seeking partners such as iot squared to localise and produce the Polytron cameras to aid in scaling up the business.

“The Middle East is definitely going to be key. For the South-east Asia region, we are also actively exploring Malaysia and possibly Thailand and Vietnam,” pointed out Lee.

Vizzio plans to tap the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone to produce its Polytron cameras. It is also looking to build on its momentum in the Middle East, with Lee focusing his efforts there over the next 12 months.

He wants to concentrate on engineering, with other senior leaders in the company helping to front it. This would allow him to play a bigger role at the back end, which involves designing products and getting patents.

There are plans to launch a third new company named Transformer, which will be designing a new AI application-specific integrated circuit chip based on the Transformer architecture meant for deep-learning AI models.

“This is Vizzio 2.0. It is all about new markets, new technology, new leadership, more governance. I should just do my job, and that is to take care of the products,” added Lee.