DENVER, March 12, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- bext360, a company that develops technologies to streamline critical supply chains in emerging economies, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive technology licensing agreement with Boulder AI, a computer vision technology consulting firm that develops proprietary AI systems and technologies. Under the exclusive licensing agreement, bext360 will acquire Boulder AI’s intellectual property for coffee, cocoa, nuts and spices. Additionally, within the agreement, bext360 and Boulder AI will work together to combine their mutual expertises to expand into the fishing industry.
Boulder AI produces the DNNCam, a deep-learning neural network camera system that can sample enormous high-resolution scenes, boil down the data through deep learning, and store or transmit highly reduced, contextual information. The camera works in the outdoors, including underwater, in the desert or snow, and excels at an array of applications, including high-speed sorting, monitoring materials, wildlife counting and identification (such as identifying fish underwater or herds of elk in the middle of winter) and more.
Through the agreement, bext360 will integrate the DNNCam into the bextmachine, which can be used for a range of commodities, however it is currently being used for coffee cherries. The bextmachine uses artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain technology to collect and analyze coffee cherries, and make electronic payments to coffee farmers, as well as provide complete traceability and critical data to improve the quality of the coffee supply chain. The DNNCam will allow the bextmachine to refine its machine vision technology in order to better identify, analyze and divide coffee cherries into grades based on quality. The low power and data transmission requirements of the DNNCam makes it an ideal device for working ‘off the grid,’ in areas without high-speed Internet access, such as in the developing world where the majority of the world’s coffee is grown.
bext360 and Boulder AI will be working together to combine their mutual expertises to expand into the fishing industry, which is $200 billion market in the US alone. Seafood fraud, the mislabeling of seafood, has become widespread in the industry. One in 5 seafood samples are mislabeled worldwide, according to a report from Oceana and the need for traceability in the seafood sector is widely recognized. Similarly with the coffee industry, bext360 aims to bring more transparency, efficiency and full traceability to supply chains for the fishing industry, which it believes is the key to creating change for sustainable fisheries and oceans. Environmental sustainability, food safety, traceability and operational productivity are some of the key areas that bext360 aims to innovate for the fishing industry.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Boulder AI to continue to advance our machine vision technology in the bextmachine,” said Dan Jones, bext360 CEO. “Combining our intellectual property with Boulder AI’s will enable us to provide traceability and analysis not only on shore, but on fishing vessels and underwater. Our goal is to enable consumers to know the true origin, quality and sustainability attributes of any commodity that they consume, whether that be coffee or seafood.“
"Bext360 originally approached us for our prior work in fish species identification using AI, but as we learned more about their coffee project, a partnership was a no-brainer for us. Their vision for using tech in the developing world, the unbanked world, and now the oceans of the world aligns magnificently to our goals as an AI company for a more fair, balanced, sustainable future."
About bext360
bext360 develops technologies that strengthen local businesses and communities in emerging economies by increasing access to capital and streamlining critical supply chains. bext360’s “bext-to-brew” platform revolutionizes the coffee supply chain with IoT, blockchain, machine vision and artificial intelligence while bringing consumers and farming communities together to improve product quality, community livelihoods and the consumer coffee experience. bext360’s technology builds upon the fundamental shift in mobile access, microfinance, and mobile/digital payments in developing countries. A guiding principle of bext360 is to build community by enabling buyers and other organizations with direct paths to improve the quality of both the product and the communities that provide the coffee. For more, please visit www.bext360.com.
About Boulder AI
Boulder AI is a Vision as a Service (VaaS) company, developing AI algorithms to run on its cameras at the source of the data such that large amounts of visual data can be distilled into meaningful results. Headed by Darren Odom, CEO and Dan Connors, PhD, CTO. The DNNCam™ is designed for the real world, contains all necessary elements to sample enormous high-resolution scenes, boil down the data through deep learning, and store or transmit highly reduced, contextual information. For more, please visit http://www.boulderai.com.
Kim Vu
kim@bext360.com