Startup interview: Oliver Edholm, Co-Founder, Depict.AI

RTIH gets the lowdown on Swedish startup Depict.ai, which aims to bring “Amazon quality” product recommendations to e-commerce stores.

RTIH: Tell us about yourself

OE: I was the youngest artificial intelligence researcher in the world when, at age 15, I began working as an AI research engineer at payments company Klarna.

I got inspired to start Depict.ai after finding out that almost all e-commerce sites use AI methods that require much more data than they actually have.

RTIH: How does Depict.AI work?

OE: Depict.ai provides instant Amazon quality product recommendations to any e-commerce store. 

You no longer need years to gather user data. We have an easy five-minute integration that allows our customers to see results right away. 

We can prove our success with A/B testing. Our system intelligently analyses products ,images, and descriptions, improving the shopping experience.

Simply by showing customers more relevant products, some companies are seeing a 300% increase in sales. 

We started the company about year ago and since then have gained some of the largest Scandinavian retail and e-commerce brands.

In the summer of 2020, we were accepted into YCombinator, raising $2.8 million in funding and growing very rapidly.

“There is so much innovation in the e-commerce space, and so many players. So, you really need to get on top of the technology, logistics, and services available today, especially if you're a more traditional retailer”

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

OE: We saw that there are all of these amazing new case studies showing how artificial intelligence is working great within large companies such as Amazon, Alibaba and so forth. 

The problem is, if you're a smaller site, you basically never have enough data to create those kinds of recommendations. 

So that inspired us to create a product where, even if you just started your e-commerce store a day ago and don't have any data at all, you can still get the same level of quality product recommendations without the huge amounts of data that the big sites have.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

OE: It's been amazing. When we talk to a customer, we explain we have a very simple integration method to integrate Depict.ai into their site. 

After that, they can objectively see and measure the impact of our algorithm right away, no more waiting months. Word of mouth has travelled quickly, and we have many companies reaching out to us.

 RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

OE: Our biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand. 

We want to provide a certain level of service to all our customers so we are hiring as people as fast as we can.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the online retail sector right now?

OE: Keeping up with all the developments that are happening; there is so much innovation, and so many players. 

So, you really need to get on top of the technology, logistics, and services available today, especially if you're a more traditional retailer.

RTIH: What can we expect to see from you over the next 12 months? 

OE: We want to be much more prevalent within the US market, not just Scandinavia.

We have great word of mouth here. Now our plan is to expand.