Vercept Raises $16M With Google Legend And Dropbox Co-Founder Backing To Build Future Of Workflows With Vision-Based Mac App Called Vy

Vercept, a Seattle-based AI startup, has secured $16 million in seed funding to develop Vy, a computer vision-powered Mac application designed to automate digital workflows with a single natural language command, GeekWire reports.

The company was founded by a group of former leaders from the Allen Institute for AI, and according to GeekWire, its backers include some of the most prominent names in tech, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and Cruise founder Kyle Vogt.

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The round was led by San Francisco-based venture firm Fifty Years, with participation from Point Nine and the AI2 Incubator, which was Vercept's first institutional investor, GeekWire says.

Vy Uses Vision AI To Mimic Human Computer Interaction

Vercept's flagship product, Vy, uses artificial intelligence to "see" and interpret screens the way a human does, allowing it to replicate complex workflows after observing them once, GeekWire reports.

According to the company’s website, Vercept was founded with the goal of radically rethinking how people interact with technology, aiming to replace the maze of menus and code-heavy workflows with a seamless, intuitive interface that feels like an extension of the user's mind.

The company describes its mission as enabling users to do more with less effort, tackling tasks that were once considered too technical or time-consuming to attempt. Users can perform any digital task, such as filling out forms, organizing invoices, or creating content, while Vy records the actions, and then it automates those same tasks using natural language commands.

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Unlike traditional robotic process automation tools, GeekWire says that Vy does not require pre-built application programming interfaces, connectors, or hardcoded steps to engage with software. Vercept CEO Kiana Ehsani told GeekWire that the product is a “unified paradigm for interacting with the computer.”

Founding Team Brings Elite AI Pedigree

Ehsani previously led robotics and embodied AI projects at Ai2, while other Vercept co-founders include Oren Etzioni, the founding CEO of Ai2, and Matt Deitke, who worked on prominent AI projects like Molmo, ProcTHOR, and Objaverse, GeekWire reports.

Luca Weihs, another co-founder, was a research manager and infrastructure lead at Ai2, focusing on AI agents and reinforcement learning. According to GeekWire, Ross Girshick, a pioneer in combining deep learning and computer vision, also joined the founding team after stints at Meta (NASDAQ:META) AI and Ai2.

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Early Use Cases Hint At Broad Market Fit

Vy has already found traction with a wide range of early adopters, from students using it to manage assignments to businesses automating administrative workflows. In one example, GeekWire reports that individuals with disabilities have integrated Vy with speech-to-text systems, allowing them to remotely operate computers and complete digital tasks independently.

While user growth and revenue figures were not disclosed, Ehsani told GeekWire that the reception to Vy has exceeded expectations. Vercept currently employs eight full-time staff members.

As major tech players like OpenAI, Google, and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) explore generative AI tools for task automation, GeekWire says that Vercept is differentiating itself with a visual-first solution that requires no technical setup or custom coding.

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