Mad Street Den rides on Mind-Abled Devices

Smartphones are ubiquitous and so will application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smartphones be! It’s considered the future of “Search”. What that implies is: every search will be captured and analyzed in real-time, advanced search captured and infor

As many global companies get on to the bandwagon to exploit AI and computer vision to enhance user experience, Chennai-based Mad Street Den also joins the fray from India. Founded by entrepreneur couple Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran, Mad Street Den backed by VC funding is at the razor edge to cut through all of AI and computer vision for the India market.

Bringing AI out of science lab to market

Anand Chandrasekaran, co-Founder and CTO of Mad Street Den is a Neuroscientist, and a Neuromorphic Engineer. He has spent close to 15 years between these two fields. Given the background, creating an AI and a Computer Vision Company seems to be logical choice for the couple.

“Mobile assistants really did get AI out into the limelight in a big way. There’s no doubt there but what they’ve done is help us scratch the surface of this field and open it up a bit. It’s also voice- and NLP-driven AI technology. Computer Vision-based AI on the other hand, has hardly found a footing in the world yet,” says Chandrasekaran’s wife and co-founder Ashwini Asokan, recounting what led to founding of Mad Street Den (MSD).

“Anand always wanted to bring AI out of the science labs. I come from the exact opposite end of the spectrum – Design and Product Development. I have been with Intel for almost 10 years in California, driving design and development of products that used AI and early learning systems, across multiple platforms. I was driven by the idea of making AI approachable and meaningful for everyone who owns an Internet-connected device. How can we put this in the hands of billions of people, is the fundamental question we are trying to answer with this startup. Technology has to manifest itself in a meaningful way. A ton of these technologies have been around forever. We have still not figured out how to make them usable, meaningful and