Ex-Googlers build infrastructure to turn video into business data

Businesses generate far more video than they use, leaving years of broadcast archives, store footage and production material unwatched as so-called dark data. Two former Googlers, Aza Kai and Hiraku Yanagita, launched Tokyo-based InfiniMind to convert petabytes of unviewed video and audio into structured, queryable business data.

Kai says earlier tools could label objects in single frames but struggled to track narratives, understand causality or answer complex questions. Progress in vision-language models between 2021 and 2023, along with falling GPU costs and steady annual performance gains, made more capable video AI possible.

InfiniMind has raised $5.8 million in seed funding led by UTEC, with participation from CX2, Headline Asia, Chiba Dojo and an a16z Scout researcher. The company is relocating its headquarters to the U.S. while keeping an office in Japan; its first product, TV Pulse, launched in Japan in April 2025 and already has paying customers.

Japan, Tokyo

infinimind, aza kai, hiraku yanagita, video ai, vision-language, tv pulse, seed funding, utec, a16z scout, petabytes