Tampa cloud storage startup taps machine learning, facial recognition to organize photos and files

Kinstak, a Tampa technology firm, got its start when founder Carolyn Eagen was visiting family and wanted to show them some pictures of her kids.

Her phone had so many pictures that she ended up scrolling through hundreds of images before she could find the pictures she wanted them to see.

Eagen started to see the flaws with current methods for storing and organizing photos and personal data, and that led to the creation of Kinstak.

“Kinstak provides private cloud storage that automatically organizes all of our photos, videos and files into personalized categories, making it easy to find and share privately with friends and family,” Eagen said at Tampa Bay Wave’s TechWomen Rising Pitch Night last week. “With our private cloud container, it will automatically organize everything for you into your own personalized categories, where you can privately share curated albums with friends and family, and search for any file type, from any device, and find it easily and then share it — whether a photo, a video, a family recipe or even a report card.”

Kinstak’s technology, which is patent pending, categorizes photos through facial recognition, machine learning and proprietary data logic, according to the company’s website.

There’s a $53 billion total addressable market for storage and file share/sync, Eagen said. About $1 billion of that is the serviceable addressable market, or the segment of the total market targeted by Kinstak’s products and services, and there’s a $30 million serviceable obtainable market, or the portion of the market Kinstak can capture.

The company uses a subscription model, charging $11.99 a month or $119 a year. It’s currently looking for early users, who can try it for free for 30 days.

“Kinstak’s go-to-market approach is through product-driven growth, through the private sharing ability and an excellent execution on our digital marketing plan, and then value-added partnerships with IP licensing sales with selected manufacturers,” Eagen said.

Eagen has over a decade’s experience in cloud technology and data visualization. Colonel (Retired) Dr. Russ Barnes, founder of Tampa-based Systro Solutions, is an advisor. Ken Pomella, CEO of RevStar Consulting in Tampa, is a technical partner.

In addition to taking part in Tampa Bay Wave’s TechWomen Rising accelerator, Eagen was one of five founders pitching at St. Pete Pitch last month.

Kinstak is one of 13 women-owned companies in the TechWomen Rising accelerator cohort. The companies will present again at a Nov. 17 Demo Day, with pitches directed at the investors in the audience.