by Adam Pease
A computer vision startup named Mobius Labs has just secured $6 million in funding from a series A round led by French VC firm, Ventech. Mobius Labs delivers no-code computer vision solutions in an extensible platform solution. This blog describes the implications of the funding round and the place of computer vision platforms in the market more broadly.
Who Is Mobius Labs?
Mobius Labs is starting to break into the computer vision market
Mobius Labs is a Berlin-based computer vision provider that is looking to break into the market by offering a slightly different approach to computer vision platforms than the major market players. Rather than marketing to large enterprises with established teams, Mobius Labs directs its solutions to all non-experts, making it a tool that could be slotted into a smaller organization with less friction.
No-code is a new frontier in computer vision platforms that various players within the market are trying to tap into. Aragon analysts have written about the transformative power of citizen developers, and about the importance of having non-expert teams that can collaborate effectively with traditional IT. In the context of computer vision, many of an enterprise’s simpler visual recognition workflows may already be handled by non-technical employees who are well-positioned to take over the automation of these tasks through computer vision platforms.
The Future of Computer Vision Platforms
In our recently published note about trends in the 2021 computer vision market, Aragon identified the growth of computer vision platforms as one of the transformative trends that is defining today’s market. In the past, enterprises needed dedicated teams of data scientists to train models and implement bespoke architecture pertaining to their use case. Now, platform solutions support enterprises in adapting a more general framework to their specific needs.
Major providers such as Amazon, Google, and IBM have a major presence in the market, but not one that is invulnerable to disruption. Mobius has cited the desire to democratize data science by bringing non-developers into the fold of computer vision as one factor that it feels provides a competitive advantage in its favor. The market is still emerging, and as such, new angles like the one Mobius has taken will constantly be coming to light. Rounds of funding like this one may spur major providers to step up their no-code/low-code capabilities in response.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, the Series A funding round for Mobius is another indicator that the market is expanding to encompass a more diverse range of solution frameworks. While a few years ago it may have been difficult to imagine a low-code computer vision startup, the market has shifted to accommodate these new approaches.