ETH spin-off Sentinus has received the final CHF150,000 from Venture Kick to enhance its deep learning-based camera systems to automate the quality control process for manufacturers.

Sentinus use the funds to accelerate business and product development wand launch its first product. The Venture Kick philanthropic initiative provides up to CHF 150,000 in seed funding to Swiss startups and offers a well-structured entrepreneurial path toward building a winning business. 

The company deploys smart camera systems and proprietary deep learning models to detect various types of assembly errors that might go unnoticed by human inspectors and provide real-time support workers with live feedback, documentation and instructions. The system can be integrated with existing manufacturing setups, making it very easy for businesses to implement without significant infrastructure changes.

The industrial computer vision market is projected to grow at a 14 per cent CAGR from 2022 to 2031.

The founding team consists of Executive Lead Jonas Conrad and Technical Lead Felix Schnarrenberger, both experts in deep learning and machine learning for computer vision. Jonas is currently completing his PhD at ETH Zurich, while Felix is pursuing his Master’s degree in Robotics, Systems, and Control from the same institution.

“The feedback we received throughout the Venture Kick process was instrumental in helping us sharpen our focus on business development and company growth, beyond just the technical implementation of our product. The financial support also enabled us to complete the program with significant traction in the manufacturing industry,” commented Jonas Conrad.

Winners of Venture Kick are eligible for an InnoBooster grant of CHF 150,000 and an additional CHF 850,000 investment from the Kickfund. Since its launch in 2007, Venture Kick has supported 1,107 Swiss startup projects with CHF 80 million.

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