574 Invest is proud to participate in the €22M fundraising of XXII, the European leader in computer vision solutions, alongside the FID fund managed by Bpifrance, Techmind, CIB Development (Colas) and Duval Ventures.
Founded in 2015 by William Eldin and Damien Mulhem, XXII (“twenty-two”) develops a SaaS platform for deploying and configuring algorithms for video stream analysis.
The founders started with a simple observation: video stream analysis is not automated. Agents, behind their surveillance screens, must report the various information observed. This task becomes increasingly difficult given the amount of information that now needs to be processed. XXII has developed an algorithmic solution capable of detecting predefined scenarios to help agents make better decisions.
The computer vision market is booming and requires a European sovereign technology
Computer vision is a field of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows computers to derive meaningful information from images or videos and make recommendations based on that information. Computer vision is applied to various areas such as industry, commerce, logistics, public services, and concerns a market that is constantly expanding.
Computer vision began in the 1960s through university projects. Its development then accelerated during the 2000s.
Today, the global computer vision market is booming, driven by the following trends:
- The camera fleet growth: the number of surveillance cameras deployed in the global public space exceeds 1 billion (50% are in China). The top 20 global cities (excluding China) have an average of 170,000 cameras each. In France, the number of cameras in the 50 largest cities increased by 140% between 2013 and 2020.
- Agents responsible for analyzing video streams are not enough to cope with this huge increase of camera fleet: there is now approximately 1 camera for 8 people on average in the world. It is therefore essential for operational agents to reduce their time spent on qualifying the situations, in order to save them time and ensure the service reliability.
- Property and people security is an increasing concern in tourist sites, transport centers (e.g., abandoned luggage issue), businesses, and communities.
As a result, the global computer vision market is expected to triple between 2021 and 2026 and reach $51B.
This trend is confirmed by Gartner’s 2022 Hype Cycles study, which provides a graphical representation of the maturity and adoption of technical solutions. The computer vision sector is currently moving from the consolidation stage to the productivity stage. Applications are now numerous and cross-sectoral. The relevance of this technology in the market allows established early players, like XXII, to scale up now.
In this context, it is essential that a European sovereign solution emerges to ensure the security and confidentiality of users’ data. XXII is the best-positioned player, thanks to its infrastructure designed and developed in France.
XXII develops an agnostic and versatile computer vision solution
At 574 Invest, we are convinced that XXII will be the European player capable of meeting the market growth:
- After 5 years of intensive R&D, XXII has a real technical asset. Its platform is tested, validated and ready to scale up, in tune with the market maturity. XXII has already proven its reliability: it works for important public and private clients and has been rewarded by the French Tech DeepNum20 program.
- XXII’s solution run with existing camera fleets. This adaptability, regardless of the hardware used, facilitates quick deployment.
- XXII offers an agnostic platform addressing many use cases such as parking, intrusions, and traffic analysis. This solution is not limited to security use cases. The company is also working on sustainable development through use cases such as automatic streetlight control in cities to save electricity or detection of illegal dumping to protect biodiversity.
- XXII gives great importance on data security and compliance with GDPR. The company has implemented strict measures to protect users’ private data and has an ethics committee.
- Finally, the team is exceptional and composed of experts led by William (CEO, also founder of Coyote).
Through this fundraising, 574 Invest confirms its close relationship with XXII and its desire to support its development. XXII already works with our railway security teams and will continue to help our agents in their mission to secure the railway network, a crucial concern for SNCF.
Sources: IBM, IHS Market report, Comparitech, La gazette des communs, Markets & Markets
Photo credits: IBM Global AI Adoption Index 2022, Gartner’s Hype Cycles for IA 2022, XXII website, La French Tech website
