Deep-image.ai with Black Pearls VC pre-seed investment

24 June 2021

TEONITE, a professional venture building startup, has raised 160,000 EUR to develop Deep-image.AI project from Black Pearls VC fund in a pre-seed round. The startup's domain is image processing using artificial intelligence and neural networks. Over 1,500,000 individual and corporate users have already used the product worldwide, and the number of transformed images per month is close to 200,000 and growing.

One hundred billion photos to improve

More than 300 million photos are uploaded to the world's largest social network every day. That's more than 100 billion photos per year. Yet, despite growing technical capabilities, as many as 78% of all images posted online are of poor quality. The technology developed by the startup makes it possible, among other things, to enlarge and improve photos of any size using artificial intelligence. The action itself takes a few seconds and does not require specialized knowledge of computer graphics. It allows any user to make such changes to their photos. This type of technology finds its application both in users who edit pictures for private use, e.g., improving photos for family albums, and professionals using good quality photos for advertising campaigns, online stores, or websites.

In the era of large e-commerce and advertising industry growth, having good quality images is vital. Properly presented product data - photos, descriptions, and messages - can increase the store's conversion by as much as 72%. Deep-image.AI sees here the opportunity for significant growth. The company plans to use raised funds to expand its offer for business customers and strengthen the team responsible for further scaling the project on international markets. The company is also preparing to raise further rounds of financing.

Deep-Image.AI is one of more than 12 startups built by TEONITE and the first venture we have completed independently building a startup in technology, business, and market. Our team has succeeded in building a global product that has established itself in the marketplace as technological innovation and has tremendous business growth potential. VC funding is a strategic step for our Venture Building.

Robert Olejnik, CEO of TEONITE and Deep-image.AI

The company has proven its solid global potential. In the market where the most significant number of Deep-Image.AI users come from, i.e., the United States, the value for e-commerce is $709 billion, while for the advertising industry - $239 billion. Foreign experts have also recognized the quality of the technology offered by the startup. In several independent rankings of photo rescaling software, Deep-image.AI was placed on top positions, always being in the top 5.

Funding opportunities for more startups

Deep-image.AI is already the ninth investment conducted by Black Pearls VC in the Westpomeranian region. The fund plans to support a few more companies and launches an acceleration program for startups at an early stage of development. Startups included in the program will count on access to corporate clients, mentoring support, and a fast-track investment model in the amount of EUR 55,000 in exchange for 10% of shares in the company.

As an investor, we highly value the opportunity to work with ambitious entrepreneurs. What matters to us is the team, the idea, and the possibility of a quick verification of projects in the market environment. It is how the process of our cooperation with Teonite VC looked like. And this is what we look for in other startups. In addition to capital, we offer startups the opportunity to work with corporations. Thanks to this combination, we can help companies grow even faster. We invite startups and venture builders to join our acceleration program.

Wojciech Drewczynski, Head of Acceleration, Black Pearls VC

About TEONITE

Venture Builder with over 10 years of experience and a track record of 12 portfolio products worth over €10M operating in global markets. Technology-driven by one of its portfolio companies - a boutique software house specializing in building products in partnership with startups and corporate clients (including fortune 500 companies). Learn more: https://teonite.com/teonite-ventures.html

About Black Pearls VC

Black Pearls VC is a Poland-based early-stage venture capital firm focused on seed, post-seed, and Series A investments in leading tech startups from Northern & Central Europe. Focusing on supporting ambitious entrepreneurs in building companies with a global reach, Black Pearls VC is usually one of the company’s first investors, helping founders scale and reach their goals. Black Pearls VC focuses on deep tech startups working across various sectors and believes in supporting entrepreneurs who develop novel and ambitious technologies. It usually invests at an early stage with initial investments ticket ranging between €100k - €1m and follow-on investments in later rounds. Black Pearls VC is a part of Kauffman Fellows network of over 400 venture firms and organizations.