UCL Computational Photography startup Photogram wins £175,000 Innovate UK Grant to develop The Alice Camera

London, Thursday 5th November 2020 - Photogram, a computational photography startup based at the UCL university incubator, has secured a £175,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to develop their Alice Camera™, a novel AI camera being built in Britain from the ground up for the 40 million income-generating influencers, vloggers, YouTubers, TikTokers, and Twitch streamers who create frequent digital content as part of the passion economy and the future of work.

Millions of people around the world now earn a living from turning their passions into livelihoods, whether that’s playing video games or creating online tutorials, by regularly sharing high-quality video content to their audiences at scale. New platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Twitch allow anyone to monetise their unique skills. The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent lockdowns, has rapidly accelerated this trend.

The Alice Camera’s mission is to empower the next generation of content creators who have been let down by the lack of innovation and usability of traditional digital cameras. Photogram surveyed over 1,000 content creators and found that 89% wanted a device with the image quality of an interchangeable lens camera but with the connectivity of a smartphone.

By taking advantage of a new opportunity to bring together mirrorless camera technology, micro four thirds lenses and smartphone technology with the advances in computational photography and artificial intelligence, the team at Photogram are drastically rethinking the camera as a computer with an open source ecosystem making it easier to shoot, edit and share content seamlessly whilst being affordable and maintaining a professional optical system.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £191 million to fund single and collaborative research and development projects as part of the Sustainable Innovation Fund over the next two years. The aim of these competitions is to help all sectors of the UK rebuild after the effects of COVID-19. The Sustainable Innovation Fund is funding 1,103 projects, 1189 UK businesses and totalling over £130 million in support across the UK.

Innovate UK Executive Chair Dr Ian Campbell said: 

“In these difficult times we have seen the best of British business innovation. The pandemic is not just a health emergency but one that impacts society and the economy. The Alice Camera by Photogram AI, along with every initiative Innovate UK has supported through this fund, is an important step forward in driving sustainable economic development. Each one is also helping to realise the ambitions of hard-working people.”

Photogram Chief Executive Vishal Kumar said: 

“The Alice Camera will be the only interchangeable lens camera that is designed from the ground up for content creators and will take photography into a new era of image sharing and live streaming. The grant funding will allow us to expand our team, develop and protect our intellectual property and will accelerate our route to market so that we can deliver a product that solves the problems of the modern content creator. The UK is a world-leader in design excellence and by keeping the entire product design and manufacturing of the Alice Camera in Britain we can ensure that our supply chain is local and sustainable.”

Photogram
Photogram is a London based computational photography startup founded in July 2019 with the mission to empower creatives with technology. Founded on Entrepreneur First, a deep tech accelerator in London, the team is now incubated at the UCL university incubator and their partners include Digital Catapult, NVIDIA, Aetha Design and Outfly. 

More info about the Alice Camera can be found on the webpage: https://www.alice.camera

Launch video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MpGxGXODwfs

Full media kit is here: https://rb.gy/ew7ejd