Powering the AI data workflow with Voxel51
Bessemer Venture Partners leads Voxel51’s $30 million Series B, building the orchestration layer for visual data and AI models.
Lindsey Li & David Cowan
Published on May 16, 2024
AI has a data management problem: enterprise-grade AI models are increasingly built atop large troves of raw data – images, videos, text, multi-modal – yet powering these models at scale often requires complex, manual workflows to clean and deploy data. That’s where Voxel51 comes in. Voxel51 is tackling a critical piece of AI infrastructure – the data workflow. Its platform provides an orchestration layer to help machine learning teams centralize, manage, and prepare the large volumes of data required to build AI applications. Already, scores of open-source developers and enterprise teams focused on deploying computer vision-based applications have adopted Voxel51 as their orchestration platform of choice, and it’s only the beginning.
We are excited to partner with Voxel51 co-founders Brian Moore and Jason Corso and the broader team on their next phase of growth.
Voxel51’s platform ingests annotated data such as images, videos, text and more from computer vision sources like autonomous vehicles, quality assurance cameras, medical scans, and more. It then allows AI/ML teams to collaboratively prepare that data for use through auto-curation, visualization, cleaning and versioning. Once ready, AI/ML teams can seamlessly move finalized data to model training and deployment.
As companies move to productize AI across industries, we see an immense opportunity in platforms that streamline AI/ML workflows and replace painful manual processes. We at Bessemer believe solutions like Voxel51 that aggregate workflows and abstract away complexities will become essential infrastructure for any enterprise looking to embrace and leverage AI. We've been impressed by the entire team and their elegant and differentiated solution as a true orchestration layer for customers to build both AI-forward and AI-native applications, faster and more easily.
We were especially impressed that Voxel51 manages all visual data workflows in one place, has meaningful traction with enterprise customers, and has open-source roots and clear customer love. These ingredients suggest the beginning of a robust data ecosystem around the platform. We’re also optimistic about Voxel51's potential to expand beyond computer vision, centralizing all types of data for enterprise ML teams and becoming a comprehensive data orchestration layer for the AI era. We look forward to partnering with the team as they define the emerging AI data workflow category and help enterprises across all industries efficiently integrate AI into their products and services.
Contributors
Lindsey Li
Vice President
Lindsey Li is a vice president in the San Francisco office where she focuses on early-stage software opportunities across developer platforms, gaming, and energy.
Before joining Bessemer, Lindsey worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the Technology, Media, & Telecommunications Group. She also previously worked in equity research at Baron Capital.
Lindsey graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied finance and management with a minor in psychology.
David Cowan
Partner
David Cowan is one of the world’s leading investors, having funded Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds that led to over 30 IPOs. David was ranked sixth on the Midas List and tied for fourth in the Midas List of Hall of Fame.
Based in our Silicon Valley office, David launched Bessemer's practices in cloud, cybersecurity, consumer internet, gaming, space, and quantum computing. Known for taking chances on the unorthodox, David’s early stage bets include Twitch (acquired by Amazon), Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), and Skybox Imaging (acquired by Google).
David has co-founded three cybersecurity companies incubated within Bessemer’s offices: VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), serving as initial Chairman and CFO; Good Technology (fka Visto, acquired by Blackberry) serving as CEO; and Defense.net (acquired by F5).
He earned an AB in computer science / mathematics and an MBA, both from Harvard University. Today he serves on several non-profit boards including the Center for Inquiry and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is the co-writer of the Silicon Valley mockumentary series “Bubbleproof,” and Emmy-nominated producer of the award-winning MTV Documentary film “Afghan Dreamers.”
