Slyce More Than Triples Funding with $10.75M Raise to Deliver ‘Amazon Flow’ Style Image Recognition Capability to Every Retailer
Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) March 05, 2014 -- The round was lead by Beacon Securities with participation from PI Financial, Salman Partners, AlphaNorth Asset Management and other private investors.
The Toronto-based startup has seen rapid traction over the last six months and is already working with several leading North American retailers and publishers, integrating product recognition technology into existing mobile commerce apps and activating web content for purchasing through images.
The Slyce technology enables a retailer’s customer to snap a smartphone picture of any item they find in the real world, or hover over any image online, and be instantly provided with all direct, or close-matching products from the retailer’s inventory which can be purchased instantly - at the exact point of consumer inspiration.
Mark Elfenbein, Chief Digital Officer at Slyce said, “Right now, retailers are having to rapidly adapt to the changing ways consumers are choosing to shop. Visual product search literally puts the retailer wherever their customer is when they become inspired to buy a product, making the entire physical world a showroom. This is a major disruption to the industry as it stands right now.“
Other use cases for the Slyce technology include -
- Contextualized search - Consumers snap pictures of home improvement scenarios and access instructional videos and in-store mapping to source required products.
- In-store checkouts – Consumers snap pictures of items as they shop in-store and are automatically billed as they leave.
Amazon Flow Style Mobile Visual Search Capability for Every Retailer
Amazon’s recent launch of their product recognition feature ‘Flow’ has led to another surge of interest in Slyce from retailers which want to offer this type of shop-by camera capability to their customers. The Slyce image recognition technology integrates into existing retailer apps and unlike Flow, doesn’t require packaging or logos to recognize products in real environments.
Other recent announcements from Slyce include;
• February 2014 acquisition of computer vision technology from York University & MaRS Innovation
• Acquisition of desktop visual search company Hovr.it
• Appointment of Mark Elfenbein, former President of Mood Media North America.
About Slyce
Slyce is a mobile image recognition platform designed to put retailers exactly where their customers are at the moment of inspiration. The Slyce technology, when integrated with the world’s leading retail brands, provides shoppers with the ability to snap a smartphone picture of any item they find in the real world, or hover over any image on their desktop, and instantly access all direct or close-matching products from the retailer’s inventory which can be purchased there and then.
For image download and further company information please click for the Slyce Media Kit.
For further information and interviews, please contact;
Josh Stanbury | josh[at]businessinstincts[dot]ca | 403-781-6671
Josh Stanbury, Business Instincts Group, http://www.businessinstincts.ca, +1 403-781-6671, [email protected]
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