Co -founders of Deepnight Lucas Young and Thomas Li have been friends since childhood. They each worked as software engineers in Google, when Young decided that he wanted to interrupt the code, so to talk, on a problem that has been having the US army for many years: Digital Night Vision Tech.
Most night vision technology is still analog. Goggles use optical lenses and a chemical process to remodel scanty light into images, Young said TechCrunch. And cost from USD 13,000 to USD 30,000 per item from military contractors L3harris AND Elbit America.
For years, the American army has been attempting to digitize technology, mainly focusing on the equipment. Example: a budget value $ 22 billion for the project of the integrated visual expansion system (IVAS), which Anduril has just taken over from Microsoft and its Hololens technology.
Young, who has a computing photography diploma from Cal Poly, spent five years working on smartphone camera software. He wrote a code that balanced the restrictions of small aperture, low-cost digital cameras 50 USD used in smartphones. And the experience of Li is AI Tech, especially a computer vision.
One day, Young read a scientific article from 2018Learning to see in the darkCo -author of the well -known scientist Vladlen Koltun, who is currently in Apple. It was discussed using artificial intelligence for illustration with poor light, but at that point AI systems on the device weren’t fast enough to operate 90 frames per second (FPS) obligatory to look at in real time.
In 2024, Young realized that AI accelerators operating in the system on chips system (SOC) advanced enough to support 90 FPS. He talked about his friend Li to offer up their work and start a startup called Deepnight. And they immediately entered the winter group Y Combinator.
Their smartphone application retains the army
The army was their first obvious customer, but they might not only turn to the Pentagon and book a meeting. So Young found an industry event in which people from the American Army Laboratory participated.
He wrote a white book that presented his idea: the night vision device as a software problem. He gave out copies at a party, including a colonel of the army, who agreed to read the newspaper. “It was just a conversation in the corridor. I wasn’t even in a business outfit. Only a t-shirt of Young.
The colonel liked what he read enough to contact the founders with people in the laboratory, formally often known as the center of the C5isR of the US Army.
Desperate to indicate these those that their concept will work, the founders have built an application for night vision smartphones. They put a smartphone in the VR set from smartphone service.
It was a basic prototype that was impressive enough to steer to the first sale.
“The army awarded us a contract of $ 100,000 in February 2024, a month to the Combinator, based on the proof of the concept in the demo of smartphones and our white and presentations,” said Young.
Young and Li needed to present their progress in a more formal demo. Young said that the couple flew to Washington to indicate a room filled with 10 people, how their software worked, in addition to the latest goggles. (Here is the movie on YouTube, in which They disassemble their technology.)
The meeting led to more contracts. A 12 months after launching, the startup reserved about $ 4.6 million of contracts from the federal government, including the American army and the Air Force, in addition to corporations comparable to Sionx and Sri International.
Deep Night immediately attracted investors. At the end of YC, he collected a round of $ 5.5 million led by the initiated capital, with angels comparable to Kulveer Taggar, former In-Qtel Brian Shin and Matthew Bellamy partner, the foremost vocalist of the band Muse. Y Combinator also left the standard offer.
Perhaps, most significantly, Koltun, a scientist who wrote an article that inspired the company, also became an angel.
Deep Night offers software and partners with equipment manufacturers, comparable to goggle manufacturers, military helmets or other products.
“Now we can make everything in the world in the dark, because it is only software. So this is motoring, safety, drones, such as boats, electronics, NAV cameras, “describes Young. And because the whole lot is that there is no advanced camera for smartphones for 50 USD, their technology does not need expensive equipment to order.