Latest news with #LuminX
Techday NZ
4 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
LuminX raises USD $5.5 million to advance AI for warehouses
LuminX has secured seed funding of USD $5.5 million to further develop and deploy vision language models for warehouse and supply chain operations. The funding round drew the backing of several investors, including 1Sharpe, GTMFund, 9Yards, Chingona Ventures, and the Bond Fund. Their investment will support LuminX's commitment to improving efficiency and reducing operational errors across the logistics and warehousing sectors. LuminX aims to address longstanding inefficiencies in supply chain and warehouse management that often result in operational errors and increased costs. Its technology focuses on deploying vision language models (VLMs) directly onto mobile hardware in warehouse environments, which the company says can make advanced AI more accessible and practical for diverse operations in the sector. The company's systems use a combination of visual understanding and generative AI capabilities to allow cameras to interpret complex, dynamic warehouse environments in real time. These devices can be installed throughout warehouse settings, including docks, conveyors, forklifts, or used as handheld units. According to LuminX, the system processes visual data to automate operational tasks, reduce the need for manual labour, minimise discrepancies, and optimise workflow. LuminX's leadership team is headed by Founder and Chief Executive Alex Kaveh Senemar, who previously established Voxel, an AI company focusing on warehouse safety and operations, and Sherbit, which was acquired by Huma in 2019. He is joined by Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Reza (Mamrez) Javanmardi, who holds a PhD in Computer Science and previously served as Head of AI Research at Voxel. The broader LuminX team comprises specialists in AI, specifically in vision language models, computer vision, and robotics, with many staff connected to research institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University. "This pivotal funding allows us to scale our next-generation AI models, transforming how warehouses operate. Our edge based vision language models represent a massive step forward, acting as an intelligent core for warehouse operations. They deliver new levels of automation and insight, helping to turn previously opaque processes into transparent highly efficient systems," said Alex Kaveh Senemar. Early users of LuminX's technology include Vertical Cold Storage. "LuminX's technology is set to revolutionise our warehouse productivity and operations. It's allowing us to automate critical tasks, significantly enhance quality, and reduce claims." He continued, "In my entire career, I have yet to encounter a product that so effectively improves efficiency while simultaneously boosting quality and reliability," Robert Bascom, Chief Operating Officer of Vertical Cold Storage, said, describing the impact on the company's workflow. "Edge-deployed vision-language models are breaking the two toughest bottlenecks in logistics—labour scarcity and data blindness. By turning a low-cost camera into a perceptive co-worker that sees, understands, and acts in real time, LuminX is unlocking a step-change in operational intelligence and efficiency for every pallet, conveyer, and forklift," Kat Collins, a representative of 1Sharpe Capital, commented on the significance of LuminX's approach in the warehouse environment. The company intends to invest the newly secured funds to advance its core research and development in vision language models for logistics. Additional areas for investment include optimising these models for edge deployment, expanding the engineering team, and scaling its go-to-market activities in the logistics AI sector.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Innovation Will Create The Warehouses Of The Future
More automation could transform warehouse productivity In a world where innovation and technology are transforming the way in which enterprises work, it sometimes feels as if operational assets such as warehouses are behind the pace. Many large manufacturing businesses and logistics operators still run noisy and dirty facilities that rely on large numbers of staff working through manual processes. Slowly, but surely, however, that is starting to change, as supply chain executives recognise the potential of new technologies to increase efficiency and drive productivity. Recent McKinsey research, based on a survey of logistics and supply chain leaders found 70% of them intended to invest more than $100 million in automation over the next five years. And there is a huge amount of investment required. Research from MarketsandMarkets suggests that on current trends, only a quarter of warehouses in the US will have any level of automation by 2027. MarketsandMarkets sees entrepreneurial new entrants to the sector as playing a major role in accelerating innovation. It reckons the global size of this market will increase from $33.3 billion last year to $51.0 billion by 2029 – growth of 8.9% a year. 'Market growth is expected to be fuelled by various factors, including the increasing number of start-ups offering robotic solutions for warehouse automation,' analysts at the market research firm explain. One start-up hoping to play its part in this theme is San Francisco-based LuminX, which is today announcing it has raised $5.5 million of seed funding. The business, launched last year by CEO Alex Senemar has developed a new platform that uses vision language models to speed up warehouse operations. The idea is disarmingly simple. Using cameras on mobile devices, LuminX's technology can process warehouse deliveries as they arrive, instantly recognising what products are in a shipment, whether that matches what the business is expecting, whether there are any quality or damage issues to worry about, and where in the warehouse the delivery is subsequently moved to. The technology significantly reduces the time currently taken up with manual delivery processing, which requires warehouse staff to check each box individually and enter records on a system. It generates data that flows into a company's warehouse management system so that it has single record of what goods have come in. It also provides a visual record of goods that have been delivered, eliminating inconsistencies and the potential for disputes, much in the same way as consumers now receive photos of e-commerce deliveries they receive at home. The inspiration for LuminX came from a previous logistics start-up, Senemar explains. 'I was spending a significant amount of time on warehouse floors and was constantly surprised by the amount of manual effort dedicated to bar code scanning and verification tasks - it struck me as a major bottleneck and a source of inefficiency,' he explains. 'It felt like a problem waiting for the right technological approach, and recent improvements in large language models and mobile cameras provided an opportunity to significantly improve this process.' Senemar subsequently teamed up with co-founder Reza Javanmardi to launch LuminX. The company has already sold the technology to a number of US warehouse operators and is in contract negotiations with more. One early adopter is Vertical Cold Storage, which operates a network of warehousing facilities across the US. COO Robert Bascom credits LuminX's technology with 'revolutionising our warehouse productivity and operations'. He explains: 'It's allowing us to automate critical tasks, significantly enhancing quality, and reducing claims.' LuminX's seed round is supported by investors including 1Sharpe, GTMFund, 9Yards, Chingona Ventures, and the Bond Fund. At the first of those firms, 1Sharpe Capital, Kat Collins says: 'By turning a low-cost camera into a perceptive co-worker that sees, understands and acts in real time, LuminX is unlocking a step-change in operational intelligence and efficiency for every pallet, conveyer and forklift.' Investors believe LuminX has the potential to be one of a wave of start-ups that are now starting to transform warehousing. Companies such as the Israeli business Flymingo are also exploring the use of vision technology in logistics; the Spanish business Friday Systems is using artificial intelligence to help robots take over complex tasks currently carried out by humans. Australia's Vypex enables logistics teams to track inventory more closely than ever before. In short, start-ups from across the world are increasingly moving the logistics sector forward. The warehouses of the future will be run almost entirely automatically, eliminating the waste and inefficiency that currently causes so much disruption.
