LuminX AI, a company that builds artificial intelligence models and hardware for warehouse inventory automation, today announced it has raised $5.5 million in a seed round to accelerate the development and deployment of its logistics solution.

1Sharpe, GTMFund, 9Yards, Chingona Ventures and the Bond Fund joined in the funding round.

LuminX develops and trains advanced vision language models, which use powerful generative AI capabilities to interpret complex video from warehouse environments to recognize products, labels package conditions and movement into actionable information.

Vision language models combine computer vision and natural language processing capabilities to understand and generate content based on both images and text. These models bridge the gap between understanding what’s happening in a video and interpreting language. This is necessary for classifying objects in images based on textual contexts or answering structured or conversational questions about an image.

The company integrates its AI model within low-cost mobile hardware cameras that LuminX said are designed to make the AI technology more accessible and practical for a wider range of operations. The devices can be deployed anywhere in warehouses, including on docks, conveyors and forklifts or used as handheld units.

“Our edge-based vision language models represent a massive step forward, acting as an intelligent core for warehouse operations,” said Alex Kaveh Senemar.  “They deliver new levels of automation and insight, helping to turn previously opaque processes into transparent highly efficient systems.”

Senemar has a storied history as an entrepreneur scaling and building AI companies across several industries. He previously founded and led Voxel Labs Inc., an AI-powered warehouse safety and operations company. He is joined at LuminX by co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Reza Javanmardi, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science and was formerly the head of AI research at Voxel.

LumiX’s system can read bar codes and QR codes, handwritten text, case counts, expiration dates, damage, dimensions and other key data irrespective of the speed or angle at which a palate or package is moving. This provides AI-automated dock verification and inventory tracking, providing high accuracy and efficiency through vehicle, wall and handheld cameras.

The company said this means warehouse operations will have a ready-to-go understanding of their inventory at a glance faster than any other solution with their simple ruggedized solution that they can deploy quickly anywhere.

“LuminX’s technology is set to revolutionize our warehouse productivity and operations,” said Robert Bascom, chief operating officer of Vertical Cold Storage LLC, a low-temperature warehouse company and early adopter of the technology. “It’s allowing us to automate critical tasks, significantly enhance quality, and reduce claims. In my entire career, I have yet to encounter a product that so effectively improves efficiency while simultaneously boosting quality and reliability.”

LuminX said the new funds will be invested in advancing its core research and development of vision language models for logistics, optimizing them for edge deployment, expanding its engineering team and enhancing market outreach.

Images: Arno Senoner/Unsplash, LuminX