LeapMind Receives Investment of Over US$10 Million

Proceeds will be used for deep learning R&D in software and hardware domains

October 20 2017, Tokyo, Japan  – LeapMind, Inc., a leading deep learning solution provider for enterprises, today announced during Intel Capital’s CEO Showcase that it has raised an investment of over US$10 million led by Intel Capital and joined by GMO VenturePartners, Inc., Visionnaire Ventures, Itochu Technology Ventures, Inc., NTT DATA Corporation, Innovative Venture Fund Investment Limited Partnership and Archetype Ventures Inc. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

Deep learning has great potential, but its complexity and need for large computing resources have made it difficult to apply to devices with smaller footprints. LeapMind’s embedded deep learning solution, called “JUIZ,” is the first platform to solve this problem and make deep learning accessible for broader applications. LeapMind plans to use the investment funds for active R&D for both software and hardware applications, for recruitment and retention of talented employees, and for business development and expanding sales operations.

“LeapMind brings cutting edge deep learning technology to industry scale use with software and hardware focused R&D,” said Soichi Matsuda, LeapMind CEO. “With this investment, we aim to foster the synergy between our platform “JUIZ” and our partners’ business needs.”

“Intel is supporting the development of deep learning and machine vision with investments focused on AI computing in the datacenter and at the edge,” said Erhaan Shaikh, Vice President and General Manager, Automotive, Military and Embedded Business Division,  Programmable Solutions Group at Intel Corporation. “This investment in LeapMind further demonstrates Intel’s commitment to accelerating the development and global adoption of innovative technologies.”

LeapMind’s technology enables deep learning in small computing environments with limited power, providing customers with easy access to the complex and powerful benefits of deep learning and expanding its application into IoT, consumer electronics and robotics.

LeapMind delivers deep learning model construction and model compression and implementation on hardware.

LeapMind’s original algorithms for efficient deep learning and compression techniques allow for significant size reduction of deep learning models while optimizing with high efficiency for small footprint hardware like FPGA.
Using customizable platforms like FPGA, LeapMind’s optimal hardware architecture for deep learning and compressed deep learning models can be easily adapted and deployed as needed, in order to achieve optimal performance for every use case.

About LeapMind

LeapMind makes deep learning “small and compact” and accessible across a broad spectrum of applications, evolving the Internet of Things into the “Deep Learning of Things (DoT).” While improving the accuracy of neural network models, we are researching and developing our own innovative algorithms that can reduce the computational complexity of deep learning to use within a small computing environment. We also conduct research on original chip architectures that can efficiently implement deep neural networks on a circuit with low power and limited memory. More information regarding LeapMind is available at http://leapmind.io.

About Intel Capital

Intel Capital invests in innovative startups targeting 5G connectivity, the datacenter, artificial intelligence, merged reality, autonomous driving and a wide range of other disruptive technologies. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US $12.2 billion in 1500  companies worldwide, and more than 640  portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired. Intel Capital curates thousands of business development introductions each year between its portfolio companies and the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world’s most powerful venture capital firms, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @intelcapital.

Contact

LeapMind, Inc.

Headquarters : 3F, Tsuchiya Bldg, 3-15-3 Shibuya Shibuya-ku,

Tokyo, 150-0002

Japan

Yuki Mimuro

Tel : +81(0)3-5778-9948

E-mail : pr@leapmind.io