Two childhood friends, Lucas Young and Thomas Li, both working as software engineers, decided to tackle a long-standing problem in the military: night vision technology. Most night vision gear today is analog, using lenses and chemicals to create images in low light. These devices can cost a fortune, ranging from $13, 000 to $30, 000 each. The U. S. Army has been trying to modernize this tech for years, focusing mainly on hardware. A big example of this is the $22 billion budget for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) project.

Lucas Young, with a degree in computational photography, had spent five years working on smartphone camera software. He knew how to make the most of tiny, cheap camera sensors. Thomas Li, on the other hand, was an expert in AI, especially computer vision. One day, Young read a scientific paper from 2018 about using AI for low-light imaging. The idea was promising, but the technology at the time wasn't fast enough for real-time viewing.

In 2024, Young realized that AI chips had advanced enough to support the speed needed for real-time night vision. He convinced Li to quit their jobs and start a company called Deepnight. They joined Y Combinator's winter cohort and got to work. Their goal? To turn night vision into a software problem, not a hardware one.

The military was an obvious first customer, but getting a meeting with them wasn't easy. Young found an industry event where people from the U. S. Army's night vision lab were present. He handed out a white paper outlining his idea. An army colonel liked what he read and put the founders in touch with the lab.

To prove their concept, the founders built a night vision smartphone app. They put the smartphone into a VR headset. It was a simple prototype, but it worked well enough to impress the military. In February 2024, just one month into Y Combinator, they secured a $100, 000 contract.

The founders then had to present their progress in a more formal demo. They flew to Washington D. C. and showed their software to a room full of military personnel. The meeting led to more contracts. A year after launching, Deepnight had booked about $4. 6 million in contracts from the federal government, including the US Army and Air Force, as well as with companies like Sionyx and SRI International.

Deepnight also attracted investors. By the end of Y Combinator, it raised a $5. 5 million round led by Initialized Capital, with angels like Kulveer Taggar, former In-Q-Tel partner Brian Shin, and Matthew Bellamy, lead singer of the band Muse. Y Combinator also contributed to the funding.

Deepnight's software can turn any device with a camera into a night vision tool. This means it can be used in cars, security systems, drones, boats, and more. And because it relies on off-the-shelf $50 smartphone cameras, it doesn't need expensive custom hardware.

This shift to software-based night vision could disrupt a multi-billion dollar industry. It's a big change from the traditional hardware-focused approach. But it's also a reminder that sometimes, the best solutions come from thinking outside the box.

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