EyePop is a company that transforms how businesses create AI-powered vision models. Pulse 2.0 interviewed EyePop co-founder and Chief Product Officer Andy Ballester to learn more about the company.
Andy Ballester’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Ballester said:
“I co-founded GoFundMe, which has grown into the world’s largest platform for online fundraising, helping people raise over $10 billion. It was an incredible journey—we started with the idea that people should have an easy way to help each other, whether it was for medical bills, education, or community projects. We had to build trust, create a seamless user experience, and make sure it was accessible to everyone. We learned so much about making technology approachable and removing friction for users, which has really informed what I’m doing now as co-founder and Chief Product Officer at EyePop.ai. We’re all about making AI-powered computer vision accessible to startups, dev shops, and businesses of all kinds, no matter their technical expertise. We want to break down the barriers that keep startups and established companies from leveraging AI—whether it’s for a specific industry application or a broader business need.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for EyePop.ai come together? Ballester shared:
“So, EyePop.ai came together in 2023. It was me, Brad Chisum (our CEO), and Torsten Schulz (our CTO). We actually met through Launch Factory, and we noticed a pretty big problem for startups—they needed computer vision to stay competitive, but hiring a machine learning team was just way too expensive. So, we started thinking: why can’t we make computer vision accessible for anyone with industry knowledge, even if they don’t have a tech background? That’s how EyePop.ai was born. We help startups and businesses eliminate the manual work of identifying objects in videos and images, making it faster and easier to build applications without needing a full machine learning department.”
Core Offerings
What are EyePop.ai’s core offerings? Ballester explained:
“Our main offering at EyePop.ai is the Self-Service Training AI platform. It lets businesses build computer vision models using their own images and videos—or they can use models we’ve curated in our library. The idea is to make AI straightforward, so that startups, dev shops, and established businesses can build AI-driven applications efficiently. You can train models to do things like auto-labeling images, recognizing packaging issues, matching SKUs, tracking 2-D body movement, and much more. And the best part is, you don’t need to be an AI expert to do it.”
Who This Is For
Who is EyePop.ai for? Who will benefit most? Ballester replied:
“We’re mainly focused on startups, software development companies, and businesses that want to tap into machine learning but don’t want the headache or high costs of hiring specialized engineers—especially with Big Tech hiring up all the talent. We’re here to make computer vision easy and affordable for them.”
Use Cases
Can you share 1-2 use cases? Ballester noted:
“One of our key use cases is with Rapid Medical. They’re using EyePop.ai to streamline the transportation of medical materials, eliminating manual checks and ensuring compliance through automated vision models. Another example is CargoShot, where our platform helps optimize logistics by automating the identification and tracking of cargo in real-time. Lastly, Ventive, a development shop, has integrated our computer vision models to enhance their clients’ products with custom vision capabilities, without needing in-house ML expertise. These are just a few ways EyePop.ai is making an impact.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What sets EyePop.ai apart from the competition? Ballester affirmed:
“What really makes EyePop.ai different is that we’re filling this gap that’s left a lot of startups and businesses struggling—they just can’t compete with Big Tech for machine learning talent. Our platform lets startups in industries like e-commerce, healthcare, or fitness create custom computer vision models or use existing models that fit their needs. Plus, with Zapier integrations, it’s easy to connect EyePop.ai with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Gmail, which means more companies can get access to advanced image analysis capabilities without the hassle.”
Funding
When asking Ballester about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“Last year, we raised $1.76 million, and right now, we’re in the middle of a $2 million round, with $1.25 million already committed. This funding is helping us expand our team, scale our marketing and sales efforts, and strengthen our partnerships. Our focus is on driving growth and getting our technology into the hands of more startups and businesses so they can innovate faster and more efficiently.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Ballester concluded:
“We’ve got some exciting plans ahead for EyePop.ai. One big goal is to launch a public crowdsourced marketplace of models, so startups and software development companies from different industries can monetize their proprietary data while also gaining access to industry-specific models created by others. We also want to give our users more flexibility in how they deploy their models. You’ll be able to deploy your pipelines to your cloud, your local machines, or even directly to your users’ devices—in addition to using our cloud. We think that kind of flexibility will be a game changer.”
