Overview Lands $10 Million Series A to Help Manufacturers Radically Reduce Defects and Waste

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Overview, Inc., a manufacturing automation company founded by a group of former Tesla engineers, today announced a $10 million Series A funding round to help manufacturing customers identify and eliminate defects on the production line. The Series A funding round is led by Blumberg Capital and new investors GV and Momenta, with participation from existing investors, including Bain Capital.

The US manufacturing industry accounted for approximately $2.3 trillion of output in 2019, equating to 11% of the country's GDP. Despite the industry's significant economic impact, manufacturers continue to deal with wasted material, inspection labor, and engineering challenges associated with product defects. Globally, mistakes resulting from poor manual inspection processes are estimated to cost upwards of $300 billion per year. Overview is using AI to transform the way quality control works in order to mitigate these costs. The company interfaces with existing factory lines, pairing software with any off-the-shelf camera equipment to identify, track, and eliminate defects in real-time. Overview leverages proprietary deep learning technology to offer extremely accurate inspection systems that reduce waste at a fraction of the cost relative to alternative solutions.

While overseeing the development of Tesla's Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, Overview founders Chris Van Dyke and Austin Appel found that the data they needed to build products and processes was often difficult to come by. There was no good way to capture and analyze the millions of processes on Tesla's production floor to reduce errors or prevent downtime. Chris and Austin founded Overview to solve this challenge and bring scalable, AI-based visual inspection systems to any factory line.

Historically, only the biggest, deep-pocketed manufacturers could apply visual inspection platforms to their factories. Overview is leveling the playing field with its Snap Platform, a cloud-native computer vision technology that handles everything from device management to algorithm development. Unlike traditional systems that require specialized cameras and highly trained personnel, Overview delivers superior capability by managing its software on the back-end and combining any off-the-shelf hardware to reduce complexity and cost that often inhibit a manufacturer's ability to automate manual inspection processes.

"Global competition, supply chain issues and inflation pressures are challenging large and small manufacturers across all industries to investigate new technology solutions," said Chris Van Dyke, CEO and co-founder of Overview. "Investing in improving the equally complex and delicate manufacturing ecosystem couldn't come at a better time and we want to make it easier for manufacturing operators and engineers to access really powerful technology that will help them make fewer mistakes, mitigate financial loss, and ultimately, know that what they deliver to end customer meets or exceeds the quality specifications they expect."

"We are excited to partner with co-founders Chris, Austin, Russell and the Overview team who bring deep experience helping Tesla innovate and build the first Gigafactory," said Stanton Green, Senior Director at Blumberg Capital. "Just as Tesla created an entirely new electric vehicle industry using automation and advanced AI, we see parallels for revolutionizing manufacturing across all industries with software-led inspection systems. Overview has the potential to be the end-to-end platform that automates quality control workflow for any factory."

"Implementing Overview has been a real game-changer for us," said Geoff Lefeber, Vice President of Operations, MPE Inc., a leading design and device manufacturing partner to healthcare and technology OEMs. "The Snap Platform's implementation of robust AI and software have eliminated the complexity of finding good and bad parts, leading to zero defects in the manufacturing process. Their solution is extremely accurate, cost-effective, and built to scale alongside our operations. Overview's solutions have allowed us to deploy quality control solutions that were, for a variety of reasons, previously inaccessible to us and we couldn't be happier with their engineering and customer support."

About Overview
Overview designs and develops inspection systems that use deep learning technologies for enterprises that manufacture goods of all types. The company's software-first approach combines with best-in-class technology on a continually evolving platform, providing customers with a solution that grows and scales with their business needs. Overview's Snap Platform catches manufacturing errors that a human would miss or that would take dozens of humans watching an assembly line to see. Its user-friendly interface means management of Overview's systems can be done without technical expertise, making factories more efficient, lean, and profitable. The platform can be used with existing factory lines and is compatible with standard cameras and production system software. The company is backed by Blumberg Capital, GV, Momenta, Y Combinator, Bain Capital and Homebrew. Follow Overview at Overview.ai or on LinkedIn.

Contact: 
Austin Appel
Phone: 1-844-799-7044
Email: [email protected] 

SOURCE Overview