Y Combinator and MIT Startup Oda Studio Raises $2.8M for AI-powered Photo Enhancement Solutions

To date, the company has processed more than 1 million property photos worldwide

Oda Studio, a Y Combinator startup founded by a team of MIT graduates with extensive experience in artificial intelligence (AI), recently announced it raised $2.8 million to make their solution available globally. Founded by three MITers, Mert Karakus, Hazal Mine Kansu and Ege Ozgirin, the company plans to use these funds to reach more property managers, brokerages and marketplaces around the world. To date, Oda Studio has acquired customers across three continents and various countries including the U.S., Mexico and Turkey. Since its launch in May 2021, their technology has processed more than 1 million images.

“Oda’s proof of concept is our persistent growth, which is a direct reflection of the strong demand for our photo services in the real estate industry,” says Oda Studio CEO Mert Karakus. “We’ve experienced high demand from different segments of the real estate industry globally since launching in May, and are projected to double our revenue by January of next year.”

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“Oda’s powerful AI technology automates the process of capturing, creating and staging stunning real estate visuals in a scalable way, while providing the industry’s first visual data-driven platform for sales and marketing.”

The Oda Studio platform is predicated on the idea that prospects looking to buy or rent a new property are first attracted to the listing photos, which are powerful marketing tools. Oda automatically optimizes real estate photo quality and presentation; stages photos with furniture, décor and electronics; and allows e-commerce platforms to feature their products in listing photos. Powered by AI, CGI and real-time market data, Oda produces targeted visuals to maximize user engagement. Before posting listings online, users can upload their listing photos to the Oda Studio website. Through Oda’s algorithms, the software automatically selects the best cover photo and improves image quality.

Oda Studio works closely with its customers to understand their preferences to optimize their experience. Insights from customer usage are applied continuously to improve their proprietary models. The team’s expertise in computer vision and CGI allows for quick and selective application of enhancements on property photos using cutting edge border detection and segmentation models.

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Oda’s recent investing round was led by Navitas Capital. “The real estate industry suffers from inconsistent, expansive and often poor quality photos,” said Navitas General Partner Travis Putnam. “Oda’s powerful AI technology automates the process of capturing, creating and staging stunning real estate visuals in a scalable way, while providing the industry’s first visual data-driven platform for sales and marketing.”

Oda Studio recently exhibited its technology at OPTECH, the 2021 National Association of REALTORS® Conference & Expo, and Inmotech LATAM. The company is currently offering their solution as a dashboard for smaller real estate businesses with less than 200 listings per month and an API for larger property manager and marketplace clients.