https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/28/synthesis-ai-raises-17m-to-generate-synthetic-data-for-computer-vision/

Synthesis AI, a startup developing a platform that generates synthetic data to train AI systems, today announced that it raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by 468 Capital with participation from Sorenson Ventures and Strawberry Creek Ventures, Bee Partners, PJC, iRobot Ventures, Boom Capital and Kubera Venture Capital. CEO and cofounder Yashar Behzadi says that the proceeds will be put toward product R&D, growing the company’s team, and expanding research — particularly in the area of mixed real and synthetic data.

Synthetic data, or data that’s created artificially rather than captured from the real world, is coming into wider use in data science as the demand for AI systems grows. The benefits are obvious: While collecting real-world data to develop an AI system is costly and labor-intensive, a theoretically infinite amount of synthetic data can be generated to fit any criteria. For example, a developer could use synthetic images of cars and other vehicles to develop a system that can differentiate between makes and models.