Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Yamin Durrani, CEO of Kami Vision (Part 1)

This discussion explores the cutting-edge use cases in Computer Vision across Home, Health, Retail, etc. Excellent perspective on viable GTM strategies.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Kami Vision.

Yamin Durrani: I’m the CEO of Kami Vision. The company started in the US in August 2020. We focus on providing AI services across the globe.

Sramana Mitra: Specifically, what AI services?

Yamin Durrani: Our primary focus is computer vision. We’ve started the company in the home segment. We started servicing the consumers by providing home security for their homes, pets, and kids. Since then, we’ve branched out to other verticals such as healthcare and brick-and-mortar stores.

Sramana Mitra: When you say it’s a services business, does that mean you go to market as a professional services company or do you also have proprietary technology?

Yamin Durrani: We are a SaaS company. Our go-to-market is different for different verticals. In the case of the home vertical, which is very broad and requires mass deployment, we partner with brands where we provide software. The brands are deploying it through retail channels. In the B2B case, we do direct. We provide the end-to-end technology stack as well as the hardware. We have over 52 patents in the space. We keep developing new AI services. We partner with third-party AI developers. We have a Vision platform on which the AI services work. We sometimes use our own AI. Sometimes we use experts.

Sramana Mitra: What is your background? Where does the computer vision expertise come from?

Yamin Durrani: I don‘t have a computer vision background. I started a drone company where I was working on deliveries. We needed computer vision for that. That’s where I got the exposure. We used the onboard camera of the drone to do a safe drop-off. I felt there was a big need for a platform that can provide end users services so they don’t have to worry about computer vision.

Sramana Mitra: You pivoted the company to Kami Vision or did you start a different company?

Yamin Durrani: That is a different company. I pivoted here because I thought that the regulation in the drone industry was quite stringent. With the idea that we had, I thought that we could make a larger impact.

Sramana Mitra: Are you a venture-funded company?

Yamin Durrani: We had a spin-out of the original company. There was this company called YI Technology that built cameras. I met the founder of YI Technology. We had this vision that we can provide the software. YI Technology was a primary sponsor. They also became our first customer. Since then, we’ve gotten over 12 different brands. YI had raised $100 million and had invested close to $7 million in Kami.

Sramana Mitra: That’s the only funding you have?

Yamin Durrani: That was the initial funding. Since then, we’ve raised another $10 million. With YI, we were already making revenue. That was how it was bootstrapped.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Yamin Durrani, CEO of Kami Vision
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