Squint is raising money to expand its AR-powered technology platform

Cross-eyeda technology platform that uses augmented reality (AR) to optimize plant procedures today announced the completion of a combined seed and pre-seed funding round, raising $6 million.

Squint’s AR platform provides factory operators with an intuitive mobile experience, providing dynamic and contextual assistance tailored to their immediate environment.

By bringing traditional workplace instruction to life, Squint delivers an engaging and effective interactive experience that accelerates learning speed and improves knowledge retention.

“What drew us to Squint was the combination of an outlier founder in [CEO] devin [Bhushan]whose background makes him a leading expert in enterprise AR, and a compelling value proposition that resonates with large enterprise customers such as Siemens, Volvo and more,” said Jess Lee, partner at Sequoia, in a written statement. mobile AR, computer vision and machine learning to replace paper folders, sticky notes and human training The way it optimizes factory procedures is incredibly powerful and has the potential to increase factory operations, changing the way workers interact with machines and applications beyond the factory floor.

According to the company, the next-gen technology enables organizations to seamlessly digitize standard operating procedures, eliminating the need for an IT team and requiring only a mobile phone. As a result, routine tasks such as training, operation and maintenance can be performed more efficiently and safely.

“Our solution is currently being used by companies in the manufacturing and energy industries to help them optimize and scale individualized learning. For example, we are transforming a factory’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) with AR,” Squint CEO Devin Bhushan told VentureBeat. “Now, instead of relying on paper instructions and hours of human training, Squint provides an intuitive, engaging, contextual way for operators to learn how to use the machines safely, effectively and much faster.”

Bhushan said Squint’s unparalleled flexibility is one of its distinguishing features. He claims the platform is the only AR solution on the market that embraces an “open world” approach. Unlike other solutions, Squint makes it possible to create content on the spot without needing a QR code or a 3D model to detect objects and align itself.

“Our implementation process is straightforward and self-service, providing the manufacturing technology industry with the fastest time to value,” he said. “The results are fantastic as our early customers reported that using Squint reduced operator training time by 86%. What used to take weeks and months can now be done in just a day.”

Using the power of AR to optimize factory procedures

According to Bhushan, Squint’s self-guided teaching format empowers operators by allowing them to pause at any step of the procedure and absorb the content through their preferred media, such as reference photos, tutorial videos or written instructions.

In traditional training scenarios, operators may feel embarrassed or hesitant to interrupt a trainer and ask for help or repeat a demonstration.

With Squint, instructions are always immediately available to the operator, minimizing costly errors and increasing productivity.

Operators can also use the Squint app to instantly create digital “sticky notes” that capture equipment-specific knowledge. They can then “pin” these notes in AR for their colleagues to access later.

“It only takes 45 seconds to map a new area in Squint, and it is the only product in the world that can identify a space or an object without a QR code or 3D model,” explains Bhushan. “The advantage of an open world without QR codes or 3D models is that we have removed all the barriers for a new technological solution to be successful and immediately usable by operators. There are no other solutions or platforms capable of this level of autonomous knowledge capture and flexibility, ultimately giving operators the information they need to be secure and successful.”

The company’s impressive customer base includes industry giants Siemens and The Volvo Group, who have used Squint’s AR technology to optimize their factory operations and training.

“Once you see how AR can complement and transform written SOPs with visual and contextual orientations and demonstrations, there’s no turning back. Squint improves learning speed by providing each operator with clear, step-by-step training instructions from their phone or tablet,” says Bhushan. “Squint is always available with an operator, eliminating knowledge or memory gaps, contextually moving at the same pace as the operator, and capturing site-specific knowledge that allows an operator to troubleshoot local machine performance issues.”

What’s next for Squint?

With the new funding, the company aims to introduce new verticals in its computer vision, AR and AI projects.

Bhushan said operators have consistently provided positive feedback on Squint’s understandability and effectiveness. The platform equips them with the necessary skills and inspires confidence to work independently and safely.

“We are particularly excited about the new technology we are developing at the intersection of AR and AI, making it even easier for customers to deploy Squint across the enterprise. It is in the final stages of development, but we hope to reveal more soon,” he said. “We expect AR to become ubiquitous in the workplace in the coming years. Just as we’ve seen with the breakthrough of AI applications, AR will break away from gaming and gimmicks. Squint is already helping to drive this change.”

Squint’s funding round was led by Bowthe pre-seed and seed-stage catalyst of Sequoia Capitaland the entrepreneurial studio of Menlo Ventures, Menlo Labswith the participation of several other angel investors.