INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A new startup using computer vision software to turn security cameras into gun-detecting smart cameras has raised $2.2 million in venture
capital funding in a round led by Bling Capital, with participation from Upside Partnership and Tensility Venture Partners.Aegis AI sells
corporations and school district its technology, which scans thousands of video feeds for brandished weapons and provides threat-detection
alerts to customers within one second, for $30 per camera, per month
Coupling AI and cloud computing, Aegis integrates with existing camera hardware and video management software, requiring no on-site
and chief product officer Ben Ziomek tells TechCrunch.The financing round comes as a fresh cohort of businesses look to new technologies to
protect against gun violence
AI-based gun detection is an unproven method, but investors and entrepreneurs alike are hopeful it represents a new era in threat-detection
security systems across the globe.For Aegis co-founder and chief executive officer Sonny Tai, protecting against gun violence is personal
The first-time founder, who previously spent nearly a decade in the Marine Corps, grew up in South Africa where gun violence was all too
On my end, it inspired a lifelong passion in me
I had to do something about the U.S
Together they built Aegis, which is currently in the process of uprooting from Chicago to establish headquarters in New York City.The pair
spent 18 months building the technology they say can reliably recognize weapons in security camera footage
photos of weapons, then they reached out to key influencers in the personal safety space, who proved to be essential resources throughout
To complete the data collection process, they got their hands on real security footage and even took their own posed photos holding weapons
