Disruptel
Creates smart, AI-based products powered by computer vision, natural language processing, and voice technologies.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| investor investor investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
* | N/A | Acquisition | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Disruptel, founded in 2017 by Alex Quinn, developed a cloud-based platform centered on visual artificial intelligence and machine learning. Quinn started the company during his senior year of high school, driven by an interest in emerging technologies and a desire to create a more interactive television viewing experience. The St. Louis-based firm focused on technology that could recognize and analyze on-screen content in real-time.
The company's core business revolved around its AI-powered platform that utilized computer vision and natural language processing to understand video content. This allowed viewers to use voice commands to ask questions about what they were watching, such as identifying actors or products on screen, and receive immediate visual answers as an overlay. The flagship product, "Context," was designed to work with connected televisions (CTVs), enabling users to interact with content without a second device. Disruptel's business model aimed to generate new revenue streams for content partners through non-intrusive advertising and on-screen purchasing capabilities. Clients for this technology primarily included TV manufacturers and streaming services.
Throughout its operation, Disruptel achieved several key milestones, including securing a total of $1.81 million in funding over multiple rounds. A significant seed round in February 2021, led by PJC and Progress Ventures, raised $1.15 million. The company also participated in accelerator programs like Capital Innovators and Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs and received an Arch Grant. In a strategic move to bolster its AI capabilities, television technology and analytics provider Samba TV acquired Disruptel in November 2022. Disruptel's technology was integrated into the Samba AI platform to enhance features like "smart pause," which provides supplemental on-screen information and enables new advertising formats.
Keywords: Disruptel, Alex Quinn, Samba TV, computer vision, natural language processing, connected TV, smart TV, visual AI, video content analysis, interactive television, voice-enabled AI, on-screen recognition, content recognition, ad-tech, smart pause, real-time video analysis, Context platform, media technology, interactive advertising, machine learning