Founded in 2015, XXII is a deep-tech computer vision startup from France that's leveraging AI to transform the way businesses and other organizations use video data from camera feeds. The company – whose name is pronounced “twenty-two” in English or “vingt-deux” in French – is part of the EIC Scaling Club's Digital Security & Trust cohort and boasts an ambitious goal to become the “Google Analytics of real life”.

François Mattens, VP of Public Affairs and Strategy at XXII, explains the company's core offer and mission: “We add a layer of AI behind your screen, allowing you to make use of 100% of your cameras for live detection and data extraction. Our goal is to understand situations in real-time for security, operations, or marketing purposes, and provide useful data synthesis for businesses”.

Leveling up existing video infrastructure with an eye to the future

XXII's technology addresses a significant inefficiency in current video surveillance systems. As François explains, when you have production sites or sensitive infrastructure with around 100 cameras, you typically only use 25 screens, losing 75% of your investment. Accordingly, the company's AI solution enables businesses to make use of 100% of their cameras and do so effectively.

The company offers two main tools:

1. Live detection for reactive information from video feeds
2. Real-time and historical dashboards to extract and synthesize useful business data

Beyond supercharging existing monitoring systems, “we want to be the Google Analytics of real life,” François emphasizes. 

“Just as Google Analytics tracks online behavior, we aim to understand real-world interactions through camera data – why people go somewhere, how long they stay, what they do, and how many people are present.”

This has far-reaching potential for many spaces and sectors from retail and public establishments to transport and logistics, but may also raise privacy concerns. That's why XXII has made privacy and ethical considerations a cornerstone of its operations – engaging intimately with regulations, handling all data on-premise, as well as intentionally limiting its technology to prevent biometric analysis or facial recognition.

François emphasized the company's proactive approach to addressing concerns about AI and video surveillance: “We really implement ethics by design. We have an ethics committee that challenges our business and R&D every two months to ensure we are responsible.”

A pirate mindset driving innovation

François attributes XXII's success not only to its technology but also to its unique company culture. “We have a very positive, human-centric mindset. Our office is decorated with pirate flags because we see ourselves as pirates – we want to change the world, be smart, and do crazy things”.

With William Eldin at the helm as CEO, you'd expect nothing less. William is a serial tech entrepreneur and a household name in France, having founded the well-loved Coyote system and even laying claim to an international music hit he helped produce. 

XXII's pirate culture extends to regular hackathons, dubbed “pirate retreats,” where the entire company focuses on innovative projects, as well as spending quality time together, for 48 hours. “When we do that, it's amazing to see what kind of leaps we can make,” François says.

In terms of more substantial achievements, François outlines three that the company is particularly proud of:

• Raising €22 million in funding last year
• Winning its first contract in the US retail and QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) sector
• Implementing a strong ethics-by-design approach to address privacy concerns

However, the company faces challenges, particularly in talent retention. “It's very difficult to keep talent in France,” François admits. “We focus on maintaining our family-like company culture to keep our team happy and engaged.”

Future plans and EIC Scaling Club involvement 

Looking ahead, XXII wants to be the European leader in computer vision. The company is also aiming to expand its presence both in the US and European markets.

XXII views joining the EIC Scaling Club as conducive to both of these goals – “EIC is a big accelerator for us. We're learning from mentors and other companies, even those in different sectors.”

As XXII continues to grow and innovate, it remains committed to its core values of ethical AI use and maintaining its unique company culture. With its cutting-edge technology and pirate spirit, XXII is well-positioned to revolutionize the field of video analytics and become a major player in the European tech scene and beyond.

About the EIC Scaling Club

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

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