TheBlindGuide acquires UPenn startup ThirdEye, bringing computer vision to the visually impaired

There is almost nothing really like the atmosphere of a faculty hackathon. Amidst the cost-free t-shirts and apps to support you uncover get-togethers on campus usually lie a number of concealed gems for those with the persistence to hunt. ThirdEye, a single of those gems cast out of PennApps, UPenn’s hackathon, is currently being acquired today by TheBlindGuide for an undisclosed sum. Started off by three latest Penn students, ThirdEye delivers item recognition to mobile to support the visually impaired.

Initially designed as an increase-on for the now obsolete Google Glass, the ThirdEye of today exists as a mobile application. It uses Google’s Cloud Eyesight API to identify objects and read through their descriptions aurally. Users can also snap shots of textual content and have it transformed to speech.

Staff users Rajat Bhageria, Ben Sandler, Daniel Hanover and Nandeet Mehta, used a great deal of their time leveraging their pupil position to make out associations with corporations supporting the visually impaired. A great deal of these associates finished up getting to be distribution channels for getting their support to current market.

They spent a great deal of time hashing out a small business strategy, in the end settling on a fremium model in the U.S. of $8 per month soon after a time period and a cost-free model internationally. At the time of the sale, ThirdEye only had about 500 month to month active users. But Bhageria states that, although the acquisition is tiny, he is proud that development will continue on on the challenge.

Right after the drop of glass, the team mulled over the notion of setting up its own components. In distinction to the stereotypical incredibly hot-shot faculty dropouts, everybody on the ThirdEye staff wanted to graduate. This meant that there was only so substantially time to go all over when it arrived to studying the health care gadget regulatory and insurance policies landscape.

TheBlindGuide is an e-commerce retailer serving the blind and visually impaired communities. The ThirdEye staff will not be joining the corporation. As an alternative, TheBlindGuide will retain the services of visually impaired and disabled programmers — setting up instruments for the impaired by the impaired.

Like any self-respecting founder clean off an exit however considering future actions, Bhageria is piecing together his have undertaking fund to continue to keep active. In the spirit of the decentralized Opposite Funds, his new challenge, Prototype Funds, supported by large-web-well worth people. Bhageria would like to give mainstays like Dorm Space Fund and Tough Draft Ventures a run for their funds on the faculty startup seed-financing circuit. The notion is that buyers throughout a large range of campuses would get accessibility to far more offer flow and be ready to present perks like authorized support and office area to entice entrepreneurs.

Showcased Image: Bryce Durbin