How Mindtech’s Chameleon platform could be used to trace a missing child

The new investment round, including participation from Appen and existing Mindtech investors, follows a $3.25m funding round in July 2021 and will be used to support the company’s growth.

Sheffield-based Mindtech’s Chameleon platform reduces the time and cost involved in bringing artificial intelligence (AI) systems to market by changing the way visual AI systems are trained.

Visual AI systems can have wide-ranging uses in areas such as retail, smart cities, homes and healthcare.

It can, for example, spot if a child has slipped their parent’s hand in a busy supermarket.

Mark Brayan, CEO of Appen, said: “Synthetic data is an invaluable resource in the training of AI models and when combined with real-world data can enable outstanding results.

“We’re excited to partner with Mindtech as their automated end-to-end synthetic data platform produces the right synthetic data for our customers, faster than competing solutions.”

Steve Harris, CEO at Mindtech, said, “We’re excited about this strategic partnership with Appen – it’s going to enable more customers to rapidly train their AI systems on scalable synthetic data while complementing Appen’s existing products in real-world data collection, management and annotation.

“By working in partnership, we’ll further accelerate the development of AI systems that better understand how humans interact with each other and the world around them.”

Sean Hutchinson, senior investment manager at British Business Bank, said: “The progress that Mindtech has made since it was established in 2019 has been impressive.”

The funding from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance in July 2021 has enabled the company to create five new roles, with plans to double its workforce in the next 12 months now in place.

“This latest round of investment is a testament to the exceptional talent that we have in Sheffield and the North, and we are excited to continue providing businesses, such as Mindtech, the opportunities to realise their growth goals and expand their global presence.”