Founded in Vienna in 2013, Anyline has established itself as the market leader in mobile text recognition. In the recent development, the Austrian company has secured $12 million (approx €10.7 million) in Series A funding.
The round is led by Project A, along with other existing investors, including Johann ‘Hansi’ Hansmann, Senovo, and the Gernot Langes-Swarovski Foundation.
This new capital will primarily be used to double the headcount within Anyline, and to open its first US headquarters in Boston in early 2020. This enables Anyline to bring innovative mobile OCR solutions to new international markets and industries, including smart manufacturing, KYC services, and fintech.
Lukas Kinigadner, CEO and co-founder of Anyline, said:
This investment, coupled with the excitement and enthusiasm we have seen from our investors throughout the process, clearly highlights the growth potential Anyline possesses as the market continues to mature. As businesses move to an increasingly virtual world, it is vital they have access to advanced technologies that enable them to digitise previously analog mediums. We are proud to say European-born technology is helping businesses across the world to reduce the errors, inefficiencies, and frustrations that come with manual input. By becoming the market leader in mobile OCR, Anyline plans to be the technology partner businesses need to meet these challenges on the horizon
For the uninitiated, the company offers specialized OCR solutions that the big tech vendors are not set up to supply. Notably, Businesses are using Anyline technology to scan and collect analog information, such as identity documents, serial numbers, and utility meters, using any standard mobile device. The company works with Toyota, IBM, and PepsiCo as well.
To further enable expansion, the firm has established Anyline Inc. in the US and has hired Bryan Boatner, the former Global Sales Director of Cognex Corporation, as the company’s new VP of Sales and Business Development.
Uwe Horstmann, a partner with the lead funder Project A, says:
“Anyline offers a superior solution in the computer vision business, valuable to both the public sector and private customers. Apart from their reliable state-of-the-art technology, our decision to invest in Anyline is very much based on their amazing team. We are proud and happy to support Anyline financially as well as with our operational services.”
Kinigadner adds:
“We accept the pressure of European society to grow its own remarkable technology companies which challenge the dominance of other continents. Therefore, Anyline plans to use this capital to develop its proprietary Anyline Platform, a pioneering AI-powered solution that allows our customers to develop their own tailor-made OCR solutions. This frees them from the previously fixed nature of OCR technologies and ensuring its functionality is only limited by their creativity.”
Main image credits: Anyline
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