Partpic is Taking on Vertical-specific Challenges with AI. Here’s How.

February 3, 2017

Based on news coverage over the past few years, you’d think that artificial intelligence, or AI, is a brand new technology – like a rare life form just discovered. In reality, AI has been around nearly as long as computing itself. But it’s come to the forefront recently as its applications continue to evolve and multiply.

Take Partpic for instance, an Atlanta-based startup using AI based in computer vision technology to find and identify missing auto parts.

“We believe in innovating for the future – making part retail sales and service simpler than ever, so that our customers can better serve their customers and in turn, grow their businesses,” says Partpic co-founder and COO Jason Crain.

Founded in 2013 by a passionate team of technologists from Google, Shazam and IBM, Partpic joins a wave of emerging software companies attacking vertical-specific challenges with AI-enabled products. But according to Crain, technology alone won’t be enough to disrupt industries that have all but refused to innovate.

“I think it’s going to start with the experts in those industries regardless of whether or not they have technical backgrounds. Knowledge of what’s really driving problems in these sectors will come from those who have seen and dealt with them day in and day out,” says Crain.

“But the real challenge will come when these experts are forced to think outside of the box to solve their problems. In the auto parts space, it’s not that industry experts didn’t know that identification was a problem; it’s that they weren’t willing to utilize technology to solve that problem in a way outside the norm of what they were used to and comfortable with.”

This inherent fear of technology – from costs to adoption and overall implementation – is holding traditional industries back.

“Technology can be expensive as an initial investment,” Crain adds. “So if you’re an old school entity and you’re thinking about technology improvement and you see a pretty big cost for the initial setup because your entire system is outdated, you’re not going to be as excited to move forward, especially if your business has been growing year over year for the past 100 years.”

This failure to innovate leaves room for newcomers like Partpic to fill the void. And Crain and his team aren’t content to stop at the auto industry. His vision for Partpic spans well beyond car parts. In fact, Crain’s forecast for the business is an ambitious one with plans to expand their AI-backed parts recognition technology across sectors.

“We see Partpic in the hands of millions of shoppers all around the world. That scale of usability by shoppers is going to come in a bunch of different interfaces, it’s going to be tailored towards a bunch of different categories, not just automotive, not just home appliances but aerospace hardware and construction hardware – anything that makes up a product could ultimately be a part of the database we’re creating.”

Analyst

Brandon is on OpenView’s investment team, where he identifies and engages with potential portfolio companies. He is passionate about partnering with entrepreneurs who are making technology more accessible and using it to improve people’s working lives. He has previous experience in Sales & Trading and Investment Banking.