Sequoia leads $13M funding for B2B-focused AR enabling interaction with real objects.
Squint, a visual search platform, aims to connect people with the right information at the right time, simplifying workflow and enabling interaction with physical objects through AR technology. It has attracted major enterprise customers like Volvo, Siemens, and Colgate-Palmolive, and recently secured a series of funding led by Sequoia. Squint’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the search bar and save users time by providing instant access to relevant information. CEO Devin Bhushan left Splunk to pursue this concept, building a tool that combines AR and AI to enhance productivity and improve work processes.
Table of Contents: Sequoia leads $13M funding for B2B-focused AR enabling interaction with real objects.
- Moving towards smart augmented reality: Several years ago, we created a way for people to use their smartphone camera to identify everyday objects and interact with them
- Introducing Squint: Squint is a startup capitalizing on the concept of smart augmented reality
- Enterprise adoption and growth: Squint has gained traction with large enterprise customers, including Volvo, Siemens, Colgate-Palmolive, Michelin, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Fuel
- Squint’s wider focus and ultimate goal: Contrary to its name, Squint has a wider focus beyond visual search
- From Splunk to Squint: Bhushan’s initial concept for Squint stemmed from his work with Splunk, a data analytics company
- Squint’s innovation and content creation: Squint’s innovation goes beyond object detection and workflow management
- Advantages of Squint’s solution: Bhushan highlights the dynamic and specific nature of Squint’s solution
- From incubation to Sequoia: Bhushan’s journey with Squint began after his stint at Menlo Ventures’ incubator, Menlo Lab
Moving towards smart augmented reality: Several years ago, we created a way for people to use their smartphone camera to identify everyday objects and interact with them
Several years ago, we introduced a groundbreaking technology that empowered individuals to utilize their smartphone cameras to identify everyday objects and interact with them in innovative ways. This pioneering concept laid the foundation for a paradigm shift in human-machine interaction, paving the way for the advent of smart augmented reality (AR). This transformative technology has revolutionized the way we perceive and interact with the world around us, offering a plethora of benefits and applications across various industries and domains.
Introducing Squint: Squint is a startup capitalizing on the concept of smart augmented reality
Squint is a pioneering startup that leverages the transformative power of smart augmented reality, pioneering a groundbreaking approach to enhance the user experience. Unlike conventional search engines that rely on text-based queries, Squint capitalizes on visual recognition and artificial intelligence to provide users with real-time information about the objects they encounter in their surroundings. This revolutionary platform seamlessly connects people with the information they need, when they need it, revolutionizing the way we interact with the world around us.
Enterprise adoption and growth: Squint has gained traction with large enterprise customers, including Volvo, Siemens, Colgate-Palmolive, Michelin, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Fuel
Enterprise adoption and growth: Squint has gained considerable traction among large enterprise customers, including renowned names such as Volvo, Siemens, Colgate-Palmolive, Michelin, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and Fuel. These enterprises have recognized the value of Squint’s solutions in optimizing their operations and enhancing productivity. The platform’s ability to provide real-time information, visual guidance, and streamlined workflows has proven particularly effective in manufacturing, energy, and logistics sectors. The success with these large enterprises highlights Squint’s potential for widespread adoption and growth across various industries.
Squint’s wider focus and ultimate goal: Contrary to its name, Squint has a wider focus beyond visual search
Contrary to its name, Squint has a wider focus beyond visual search. The company’s ultimate goal, as described by its founder and CEO, Devin Bhushan, is to eliminate the search bar and reduce the time spent looking for information. Bhushan’s inspiration for Squint came from his previous work at Splunk, where he helped design augmented reality (AR) tools to map data directly to physical machines, enabling users to better understand how their systems were functioning in real time. Recognizing the potential of AR to extend beyond Splunk’s user base, Bhushan realized the opportunity to create a new frontier in visual search.
From Splunk to Squint: Bhushan’s initial concept for Squint stemmed from his work with Splunk, a data analytics company
Bhushan’s journey with Squint can be traced back to his time at Splunk, a renowned data analytics company. While working at Splunk, he was involved in developing augmented reality (AR) applications that enabled users to map their data directly onto physical machines, gaining a deeper understanding of their operations in real-time. However, Bhushan recognized that there was a significant gap in the market for a platform that could simplify and enhance the workflows of non-technical users in various industrial settings. This realization became the driving force behind the creation of Squint.
Squint’s innovation and content creation: Squint’s innovation goes beyond object detection and workflow management
Squint’s innovation extends beyond object detection and workflow management. The platform also focuses on content creation. For instance, computer vision can detect objects and then use them to create video-based AR procedures. Squint has also developed its own content from scratch, drawing on its experience with Splunk. As a result, Squint offers a range of solutions that can help workers in various industries, from manufacturing to energy. These solutions include hands-on, role-specific guides that are accessible via mobile devices and can be easily integrated into existing workflows. Additionally, workers can use the platform to generate AI-powered questions and get answers, enhancing their ability to troubleshoot and solve problems on the spot.
Advantages of Squint’s solution: Bhushan highlights the dynamic and specific nature of Squint’s solution
Squint’s solution offers several advantages that set it apart in the industry. As highlighted by its founder and CEO, Devin Bhushan, the platform’s dynamic and specific nature allows businesses to create workflows that are easily tied to specific actions and carried out by users in specific areas. The machine and AI systems cover computer vision, recognizing objects around the workflow that the person might go to, generating AI-powered abilities to ask questions and get answers related to the platform. This dynamic approach provides a more efficient and effective way for businesses to organize and manage their operations, catering to the needs of both technical and non-technical users.
From incubation to Sequoia: Bhushan’s journey with Squint began after his stint at Menlo Ventures’ incubator, Menlo Lab
From incubation to Sequoia: Bhushan’s journey with Squint began after his stint at Menlo Ventures’ incubator, Menlo Lab, where he met Tim Tully, a partner at the firm and former CTO of Splunk. Tully worked closely with Bhushan and was impressed by his work.
There, Bhushan connected with the Sequoia team through the cohort of Arc, Sequoia’s VC-early-stage program designed to find and mentor outlier startups. But Bhushan’s connection goes back even further: Jess Lee, a Sequoia partner who helped run Arc Two, worked with Bhushan almost a decade ago at Yahoo. She described the first time she saw Devin demonstrate Squint’s work: “The moment I saw the magic, similar to how I felt the first time I saw AirTag,” she said. Lee believed the time was ripe to build the next-generation tool to help skilled labor work better, whether putting a new job on the floor, going to a storage room to find a binder, or taking a phone to help figure out a situation.