[Tech30 Special Mention] Leveraging AI, CamCom aims to automate quality checks in the warehousing and automotive industries

How many times have you received the wrong shipment while shopping online? It is very upsetting to see when ecommerce companies get our much-awaited orders wrong. While we may think returning or replacing an order is a hassle for us, in the process, ecommerce companies incur huge losses.

CamCom.ai is solving this very problem with its AI platform for automated enterprise quality control. Founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneurs Ajith Nayar, Mahesh Subramanian, and Uma Mahesh, the startup leverages computer vision and deep learning to automate quality checks across the product life cycle. 

The Bengaluru-based deeptech startup has made it to the special mentions category of YourStory’s curated list of Tech30 startups this year.

“CamCom’s AI platform for damage assessment is built on a computer vision stack. The platform is presently serving in the automotive and warehousing verticals across India, Middle East, and Southeast Asia,” Ajith Nayar, Co-founder and CMO, CamCom, tells YourStory.

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Becoming preferred quality assurance partner

CamCom helps businesses become more efficient by reducing human errors, thereby making the inspection process completely automatic and contact-less, ensuring better product quality.

At present, the AI platform is predominantly used by the automotive and warehousing players. In fact, the startup also offers a mobile application that can be used to assess the damages in cars when involved in an accident.

CamCom’s AI solution, in turn, can be used to automate auto insurance claims and reduce the turnaround time for processing claims.

“In case of an accident, where the car is damaged, customers can use the CamCom mobile application to click and upload pictures of the vehicle. The system will rate the damage, and the report can be shared with the insurance companies, allowing better damage assessment,” Ajith adds.

CamCom’s solution is also used by ecommerce companies for quality checks at their warehouses. Its machine-vision cameras are deployed on industrial-grade bespoke retrofit rigs, which immediately alerts the system in case of damage or wrong products. This helps ecommerce players to increase their efficiency and reduce the return of goods.

Speaking about the operation, Ajith explains, “For warehouses, our AI automation solution offers a specialised rig with its own lighting, cameras, GPUs, and other necessary IoT-based sensors for shrink-wrapped products, and handheld devices for larger sized goods such as furniture. The necessary product attributes get verified through a multi-way match within two seconds per product.”

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Business and more

CamCom handles 122 product categories and can manage 250 million products per annum through its platform. It claims to have helped e-tailers reduce the return of goods from seven percent to zero percent.

Operating a B2B business model, its AI solution has been installed in 23 fulfilment centres across the country. CamCom has close to 50 clients, including MG India, TVS, Trac1, Grab, Watania, Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Ergo, Flipkart, and Myntra, among others. 

“CamCom operates on a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model, where we charge the clients for every inspection made using our solution,” Ajith says,

For deployment on rigs, the startup offers a pay per inspection hybrid model to enterprises, where the cost of hardware for the rigs is borne by its client, and CamCom charges per inspection of products.

Ajith clarifies that the startup earns from its clients only when its solution is used. Since the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the temporary closure of warehouses, the startup's business was significantly affected during the lockdown.

The deeptech startup competes with the likes of US-based Galaxy.ai, which leverages machine vision and deep learning technology to analyse damaged vehicle images and helps users in claiming insurance.  

Earlier, in February, CamCom had raised an undisclosed amount in its pre-Series A funding round from Triton Investment Advisors. It was also part of the Reliance Jio GenNext 2019 accelerator programme.

Ajith reveals that the startup is actively looking to raise its next round of funding as it is planning to expand its operations geographically, especially in the US market.