Latest news with #Vercept
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vercept Raises $16M With Google Legend And Dropbox Co-Founder Backing To Build Future Of Workflows With Vision-Based Mac App Called Vy
Vercept, a Seattle-based AI startup, has secured $16 million in seed funding to develop Vy, a computer vision-powered Mac application designed to automate digital workflows with a single natural language command, GeekWire reports. The company was founded by a group of former leaders from the Allen Institute for AI, and according to GeekWire, its backers include some of the most prominent names in tech, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt. Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. The round was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Fifty Years, with participation from Point Nine and the AI2 Incubator, which was Vercept's first institutional investor, GeekWire says. Vy Uses Vision AI To Mimic Human Computer Interaction Vercept's flagship product, Vy, uses artificial intelligence to "see" and interpret screens the way a human does, allowing it to replicate complex workflows after observing them once, GeekWire reports. According to the company's website, Vercept was founded with the goal of radically rethinking how people interact with technology, aiming to replace the maze of menus and code-heavy workflows with a seamless, intuitive interface that feels like an extension of the user's mind. The company describes its mission as enabling users to do more with less effort, tackling tasks that were once considered too technical or time-consuming to attempt. Users can perform any digital task, such as filling out forms, organizing invoices, or creating content, while Vy records the actions, and then it automates those same tasks using natural language commands. Trending: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Unlike traditional robotic process automation tools, GeekWire says that Vy does not require pre-built application programming interfaces, connectors, or hardcoded steps to engage with software. Vercept CEO Kiana Ehsani told GeekWire that the product is a 'unified paradigm for interacting with the computer.' Ehsani previously led robotics and embodied AI projects at Ai2, while other Vercept co-founders include Oren Etzioni, the founding CEO of Ai2, and Matt Deitke, who worked on prominent AI projects like Molmo, ProcTHOR, and Objaverse, GeekWire reports. Luca Weihs, another co-founder, was a research manager and infrastructure lead at Ai2, focusing on AI agents and reinforcement learning. According to GeekWire, Ross Girshick, a pioneer in combining deep learning and computer vision, also joined the founding team after stints at Meta (NASDAQ:META) AI and has already found traction with a wide range of early adopters, from students using it to manage assignments to businesses automating administrative workflows. In one example, GeekWire reports that individuals with disabilities have integrated Vy with speech-to-text systems, allowing them to remotely operate computers and complete digital tasks independently. While user growth and revenue figures were not disclosed, Ehsani told GeekWire that the reception to Vy has exceeded expectations. Vercept currently employs eight full-time staff members. As major tech players like OpenAI, Google, and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) explore generative AI tools for task automation, GeekWire says that Vercept is differentiating itself with a visual-first solution that requires no technical setup or custom coding. Read Next: Here's what Americans think you need to be considered wealthy. Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Image: Midjourney Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Vercept Raises $16M With Google Legend And Dropbox Co-Founder Backing To Build Future Of Workflows With Vision-Based Mac App Called Vy originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Geek Wire
04-06-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Seattle startup backed by former Google CEO lands $16M to automate repetitive tasks on a computer
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Vercept team members, from left: Matt Deitke, co-founder; Kiana Ehsani, CEO; Ross Girshick, co-founder; Cam Sloan, member of technical staff; Kuo-Hao Zeng, founding researcher; Harshitha Rebala, member of technical staff; Eric Kolve, founding engineer; and Luca Weihs, co-founder. Not pictured: Oren Etzioni, co-founder. (Vercept Photo) Vercept revealed this week that it raised a $16 million seed round in January from venture capital firms and prominent tech leaders to build what it describes as the 'computer interface of the future.' The Seattle-based startup, founded last year by a group of former Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) research leaders, has some big name backers including Eric Schmidt, former CEO and chairman at Google; Jeff Dean, chief scientist of Google DeepMind; Kyle Vogt, founder and former CEO of Cruise; Arash Ferdowsi, co-founder of Dropbox; and other longtime tech vets. San Francisco-based Fifty Years led the seed round, which also included Point Nine and Seattle-based AI2 Incubator, the company's first institutional investor. GeekWire first covered Vercept in February when it emerged from stealth mode. Vercept last month revealed Vy, its Mac app that 'sees' and understands computer screens like a human would. It records a user performing tasks across different software or websites — and then autonomously runs the same workflow from a natural language command. The idea is to use AI to automate repetitive tasks, like entering data, producing video content, organizing invoices, and more. Vercept is similar to so-called robotic process automation (RPA) companies such as UiPath and Automation Anywhere, which deploy software robots that mimic human actions. But the startup is 'fundamentally different,' said Vercept CEO and co-founder Kiana Ehsani, who described the product as a 'unified paradigm for interacting with the computer.' 'Unlike traditional RPA solutions, Vy doesn't require hardcoded interactions, pre-built connectors, or APIs to engage with new software,' Ehsani said. 'Whether dealing with legacy applications that lack APIs or modern web platforms, Vy's form of interaction remains consistent, intuitive, and flexible.' OpenAI (Operator), Google (Project Mariner), Amazon (Nova Act), and others recently released tools that automate tasks across browsers and apps, fueled by advances in generative AI. Vercept is building its own model called VyUI, which powers its soon-to-be-released API. 'We envision developers using our API to build a wide range of products and applications, for example: automatic UI test suites, computer and web use agents, RPA solutions, and so on,' the company says on its website. Vercept says VyUI beats competitors on various benchmarks. Ehsani didn't share user growth metrics or revenue data, but said the reception to Vy has exceeded expectations. 'Our user community is wonderfully diverse, from individuals with disabilities integrating their own speech-to-text systems to remotely control their computers, to students leveraging Vy to streamline their homework tasks, to businesses using Vy to automate their workflows,' she told GeekWire. Ehsani previously oversaw the Ai2 robotics and embodied artificial intelligence teams as a senior researcher. Others on the Vercept founding team include: Oren Etzioni, who was the founding CEO of AI2 before stepping down in 2022. Matt Deitke, who led the development of Ai2 research projects including Molmo, ProcTHOR, and Objaverse. Luca Weihs, previously Ai2 research manager and infrastructure team lead, working in areas including AI agents and reinforcement learning. Ross Girshick, a pioneer in the combination of computer vision and deep learning, and a former research scientist at Meta AI and Ai2. Vercept has eight full-time employees. The company was spotlighted in a recent Startup Radar post on GeekWire.
