Glass Imaging, a company harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to revolutionize digital image quality, raised $20 million in funding.
Global software investor insight Partners led the round. With the funding, Glass Imaging will continue to refine and implement their proprietary GlassAI technologies across a wide range of camera platforms – from smartphones to drones to wearables and more.
The Series A round was joined by previous Glass Imaging investors GV (Google Ventures), Future Ventures and Abstract Ventures, said Ziv Attar, CEO, Glass Imaging, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Glass Imaging uses artificial intelligence to extract the full image quality potential on current and future cameras by reversing lens aberrations and sensor imperfections. Glass works with manufacturers to integrate GlassAI software to boost camera performance 10 times resulting in sharper, more detailed images under various conditions that remain true to life with no hallucinations or optical distortions. Attar thinks of it as taking the “noise” out of images so the quality is much better.
“We can put our tech in any device that has a camera in it. The lab or computers can capture a lot of data from the camera and it learns to characterize lens aberration, sensor noise, optical blur, and then it creates a network that can reverse these things,” said Attar.
Qualcomm had a demo last fall showing off Glass Imaging technology, highlighting AI processes in smartphones.
Other devices that can benefit are makers of drones, which have high-accuracy cameras, Attar said.
“In the lab, we train the AI network to correct the issues that a drone has and we improve the details,” Attar said.
“At Glass Imaging we are building the future of imaging technology,” said Attar. “GlassAI can unlock the full potential of all cameras to deliver stunning ultra-detailed results and razor sharp imagery. The range of use cases and opportunities across industry verticals are huge.”
I was able to visit Glass Imaging at its headquarters in Los Altos, California, where I was able to see various demos of the quality of the GlassAI technology. The raw details of images were fixed by the AI processing of Glass Imaging, and the images looked a lot better, whether there was low light or good light, in the demos that I saw.
“In our case, the pipeline is simpler. We take the same raw data, do some super basic, low level correction, and then we feed it straight to the network. And the AI network basically does all the sharpening, denoising, HDR, Edge enhancement, noise removal, color noise removal — everything happens within one piece of neural network, which makes it much more efficient and just better,” Attar said.
In addition to the other verticals already mentioned, the tech may go into things like AR headsets or AR glasses, as augmented reality is gaining momentum. So are markets such as security cameras and cinema cameras.
“Users will see better quality, and for us this is important to start shipping products,” Attar said.
“GlassAI leverages edge AI to transform Raw burst image data from any camera into stunning, high-fidelity visuals,” said Tom Bishop, cofounder and CTO of Glass Imaging, in a statement. “Our advanced image restoration networks go beyond what is possible on other solutions: swiftly correcting optical aberrations and sensor imperfections while efficiently reducing noise, delivering fine texture and real image content recovery that outperforms traditional ISP pipelines.”
“We’re incredibly proud to lead Glass Imaging’s Series A round and look forward to what the team will build next as they seek to redefine just how great digital image quality can be,” said Praveen Akkiraju, managing director at Insight Partners, in a statement. “The ceiling for GlassAI integration across any number of platforms and use cases is massive. We’re excited to see this technology expand what we thought cameras and imaging devices were capable of.”
Akkiraju will join Glass Imaging’s board and Insight’s Jonah Waldman will join Glass Imaging as a board observer.
“In today’s world, anyone can be a photographer, and with Glass Imaging’s technology, the delta between taking photos and creating great photography is rapidly shrinking,” said Erik Nordlander, general partner at GV, in a statement. “The best-in-class technology that Glass is pioneering, paired with the company’s commitment to interoperability, will be impactful for millions. We’re proud to continue on this journey with the Glass Imaging team as they expand the boundaries of what’s possible in imagery.”
Glass Imaging previously announced a $9.3 million extended Seed funding round in 2024 led by GV and joined by Future Ventures, Abstract and LDV Capital. That funding round followed an initial Seed investment in 2021 led by LDV Capital along with GroundUP Ventures.
Attar proudly says that the quality that Glass Imaging can get is going to be competitive with what Apple can do with thousands of engineers. Glass Imaging has 16 people working for it. Some of the Glass Imaging team came from Apple.
Attar said that he expects some products with Glass Imaging’s technology are likely to be announced this year.
For more information on Glass Imaging and GlassAI visit https://www.glass-imaging.com/