Antikytera is a technology company providing Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for a new level of remote collaboration. With an innovative blend of AR and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, Antikytera provides an augmented communications app for iOS and Android that allows business experts to chat and video call in real-time to discuss a situation in the field — from virtually anywhere. The system’s special AR features allow users to pinpoint a problem directly in the environment which saves time and money, and greatly reduces the in-field knowledge gap.
Cofounders Kristian Karazissis and Paula Guimarães started the company in 2017, and by 2019 Enterprise Ireland named Antikytera as the most valuable start-up in Ireland. The company is now valued at more than €15m and growing. Over the next five years, Karazissis and Guimarães plan to make Antikytera the global leader in this market. The company’s early clients included companies in Ireland, Germany, Italy, and France, and most recently, several US companies have shown interest and have deployed Antikytera app known as Ermes.
We recently interviewed company founders to learn about their business progress and the plans and experiences in capturing US clients.
Tell us about your experience of expanding into and working in the US market
For an AR tech company, the US market is the most challenging. As an Irish company we’re constantly working to prove that our product is superior to any US competitors in the market — this is no easy feat. In the US, competition is high and you must come to impress. With the aim of empowering communication and simplifying the daily working life of its users, our software is currently the most advanced in the market — everything is designed and made by our company in-house. This is the result of years of study and work.
The American people like the fact that we think simple, and that our main focus is related to delivering the best user experience possible. We pay special attention to make sure that our application can be used by people with varying levels of technological experience. The US market will be our main market in the following years. We really like the American way of thinking and believe our ethos align very well. We plan on opening our main offices in the US in the coming years.
How have you worked with your US clients?
One of our Major clients in the US is SEW Eurodrive Inc. In the US they operate across Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, California, and New Jersey. We are a technology company, who specializes in using the latest technologies to improve their communication, so our challenge was to create a platform that could allow people to be virtually teleported to a location to provide expert assistance for their clients and manage remote training sessions. We accomplished this, and it’s called Ermes.
With the pandemic, traveling to a location or bringing over specialists to solve an issue can be very expensive or simply not possible. Our application allows SEW Eurodrive to create an interactive experience with their clients from anywhere to effectively and professionally solving their issues. It really has allowed SEW to maintain supreme levels of service right through the pandemic.
What key problem does your company solve for its major US clients?
Our solution Ermes solves the problem of poor communication and the inability to be able to go where an expert is needed. By utilizing the latest technologies, users can create a secure encrypted streaming call and interact in the environment using live annotations and 3D shapes. This type of platform is perfect for all types of interactive training sessions. Users can even remotely conduct an immersive training session, giving the worker a true experience of what their future working surroundings will be from the safety of their home. These annotations and shapes are used to pass complex knowledge to others using universal symbols, such as arrows and circles to make this a process for all levels of technology. Our goal is to make advanced technology tools that can be used no matter what levels of technology you possess.
In the upcoming weeks, we will be finally releasing the latest of our incredible features for Ermes. These features will revolutionize how we communicate professionally. We aim to make communication exciting, effective, and most importantly memorable. Our latest developments have dramatic impacts in training, technical support, and the after-sales departments.
