Devaki
Raj
CEO and Founder, CrowdAI
Helping organizations turn visual data into critical actions —from tracking wildfires to preventing equipment failures
Disruption
Automating Video And Imagery Analysis
While working as a data scientist in the energy sector, Devaki Raj spotted a major market gap: Between satellites, surveillance cameras and sensors, visual data was being generated at an unprecedented rate—but most companies didn’t have the resources to make sense, let alone use, of it.
In 2016, she cofounded CrowdAI, a no-code computer vision and deep learning platform that enables non-technical users to not only analyze their images and videos but also automate business-critical decisions around them. Manufacturers can use it to detect deficiencies in assembly lines and prevent equipment failures, while retailers can stock according to patterns in foot traffic. The platform has also helped the California Air National Guard map wildfires in near real-time, a process that typically takes hours, and has been contracted by the Department of Defense to accelerate AI adoption across the U.S. government.
LESSON
Building Her Founder Community
Impact
Breaking The High-Cost, High-Tech Barrier
Using AI to map wildfires as they erupt. Giving women deeper insight into their fertility data. Merging the digital and physical worlds through augmented reality. In collaboration with the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet, Forbes spoke with three women whose bold visions are democratizing self-service technology and driving change across industries.
Building Her Founder Community
Raj, who along with her cofounders participated in a prominent accelerator program, says connecting with other founders was as crucial to establishing her company as the capital she raised.
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Make sure that you have a community around you...Six years later, I still rely on other entrepreneurs. It’s not just about immediate capital. You have to continue to build those relationships even after the money is in the bank.”
Automating Video And Imagery Analysis
Breaking The High-Cost, High-Tech Barrier
CrowdAI’s no-code platform dissolves the traditionally high cost and skill barriers to computer vision and deep learning, opening access to new demographics like small businesses and non-technical users. Raj is also passionate about exposing the next generation to AI through academic partnerships and workshops for students majoring in STEM and non-STEM fields, as she believes tech innovation will impact all career paths.
In Brief
STARTUP
Industry
Impact
Industry
Lesson
Startup
Disruption
In Brief
Unlocking AR All Around Us
Impact
Industry
Sinha believes that industries outside of entertainment and retail, like real estate and healthcare, will eventually rely on AR to innovate and compete.
Unlocking AR All Around Us
Impact
Industry
Rethinking Rejection
LESSON
STARTUP
An avid fantasy reader growing up, Kirin Sinha dreamed of bringing the magic she read about to life. So she thinks it's apt that years later (and still a fantasy fan), she made it her job. In 2017, Sinha founded Illumix, an augmented reality-as-a-service platform where brands can develop customized, immersive experiences that blend the digital and physical worlds.
The company’s first big win was in gaming, making it possible for players of a hit mobile video game to see 3-D avatars appear in fans’ real-life surroundings, through their phones. Next, Illumix took on e-commerce, helping brands create virtual try-on experiences that don’t require app downloads. A “try now” button on a retailer’s mobile website simply launches the user’s camera app; the shopper points the camera at their hand or face to see how accessories like rings or sunglasses would look on them. Next, the startup plans to work with theme parks to populate rides with virtual characters.
Turning Fantasy Into Reality
In Brief
Disruption
Sinha was expecting skepticism from investors, since she was pitching AR for retail, entertainment and e-commerce well before the metaverse became a hot topic. However, she didn’t let that discourage her: “Readjust your attitude around ‘no.’ Imagine if someone told you: ‘You’re two no’s away, or even 50, from getting a yes.’”
Rethinking Rejection
Lesson
Startup
Turning Fantasy Into Reality
Disruption
In Brief
Enabling any company to build immersive experiences for their customers with an easy-to-use AR engine
CEO and Founder, Illumix
Sinha
Kirin
Growing The Fertility Data Set
Impact
Industry
According to Vechery, most reproductive health research is conducted on an infertile patient population, resulting in an incomplete data set. That’s why Modern Fertility gives customers the option to have their data used anonymously in clinical research, which Vechery hopes will advance fertility science and help uncover more accurate fertility predictors—so every person can understand their chances of getting pregnant. “For every other indication of our health, we have predictive tools [and] diagnostics…Why not extend that to reproductive health and fertility?”
87%
of women would alter their life plan if they found out they had fewer eggs than average for their age.
Source: Modern Fertility
Growing The Fertility Data Set
Impact
Industry
Finding Her Core Mission
LESSON
STARTUP
Afton Vechery learned about the barriers to IVF access coincidentally, while researching clinics for potential investment opportunities as an analyst at a healthcare-focused private equity firm. Women undergoing IVF treatments told her about high out-of-pocket costs—and that preparatory diagnostic steps, like fertility hormone testing, are often only available to people who are actively trying to conceive. She heard a common refrain among the women she spoke with: They wished they’d had the data sooner.
In 2017, Vechery launched Modern Fertility with an affordable at-home test kit that gives users—regardless of their family-planning stage—insight into fertility factors like ovarian reserve (egg quantity and quality) and thyroid function, as well as projected outcomes of IVF treatment and egg freezing. The company also offers personalized reports that are easy to share with healthcare professionals, an ovulation-tracking app and access to advice from fertility experts.
Making Fertility Information More Accessible
In Brief
Disruption
Vechery says one of her greatest entrepreneurial challenges was anticipating everything that could possibly go wrong, without losing confidence. “The job of a CEO of an early-stage company is to constantly be creating a list of things that are going to kill your company or limit its growth and then orienting your time to try to take away those barriers,” she says. To find that persistence, you need a mission you can get behind. “I believed with every bone in my body that people with ovaries deserve more information about their bodies. Being able to take that passion and funnel it into building a company, that was helpful to me.”
Finding Her Core Mission
Lesson
Startup
Making Fertility Information More Accessible
Disruption
In Brief
Empowering women to be proactive about their reproductive health with data-driven tools
Cofounder, Modern Fertility
Vechery
Afton
By democratizing self-service technology, these tech trailblazers are speeding up time—making leaps in their fields and our AI-enabled future. Moreover, they’re encouraging the next generation of disruptors to think big and innovate dauntlessly.
“I want people from all types of backgrounds to learn new skill sets, so they can be armed to grow in the ever-changing workforce,” says Raj.
Entertainment was the first pillar, but [I believe] that every interaction in our lives will have a 3-D, interactive component.” Illumix aims to be the engine that powers that reality, she says.
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