
Skymind (YC W16) raises $11.5M to bring deep learning to more enterprises - blueyes
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/20/skymind-raises-11-5m-to-bring-deep-learning-to-more-enterprises/
======
blueyes
Any one interested in our code can try out a live demo on Katacoda:
[https://www.katacoda.com/skymind/](https://www.katacoda.com/skymind/)

Fwiw, the Skymind team built Deeplearning4j, is the second-largest contributor
to Keras after Google, and the sole maintainer of HyperOpt.

[https://github.com/deeplearning4j/](https://github.com/deeplearning4j/)

[https://github.com/hyperopt/hyperopt/](https://github.com/hyperopt/hyperopt/)

Our code serves as a bridge between the Python data science ecosystem and
tools like Spark, Kafka, Hadoop, etc.

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mark_l_watson
Good for them!

While I almost always use TensorFlow for work, I appreciate Skymind's open
source Deeplearning4j library for use with Common Lisp (via Armed Bear CL),
Java, and Scala. Sometimes living on the JVM is the best choice.

~~~
agibsonccc
Thanks! Of note is we also contribute to keras and run javacpp:
[https://github.com/bytedeco/javacpp](https://github.com/bytedeco/javacpp)
which allows us to run a lot of things you only get in python directly in c.
We need to work on getting some of these things more well known. Hopefully we
can focus more on better community growth this year.

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uberdog
Is Sky TV still suing everyone with Sky in the name?

[https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/28/uks-bskyb-wins-
judgement-a...](https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/28/uks-bskyb-wins-judgement-
against-microsoft-over-use-of-skydrive-name-in-europe/)

[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-20-no-mans-sky-
st...](https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-20-no-mans-sky-studio-
settles-secret-stupid-three-year-sky-lawsuit)

~~~
blueyes
No. Knock on wood.

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pytyper2
How do I make an architecture diagram like they display in the article?

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pavlov
Cool, but rather too difficult to read to be used for anything but marketing
hero graphics.

~~~
pytyper2
What would you recommend?

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sinak
We share an office with the Skymind team, and they're an awesome group.
Congrats to them on their round!

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king_magic
Legitimately curious, why would this be a better solution than Databricks on
Azure or AWS?

~~~
blueyes
DL4J is one of the easiest ways to add deep learning to a Spark cluster.

[https://deeplearning4j.org/docs/latest/deeplearning4j-scaleo...](https://deeplearning4j.org/docs/latest/deeplearning4j-scaleout-
intro)

You can also import Keras models to train them on a Spark cluster with DL4J:

[https://deeplearning4j.org/docs/latest/keras-import-
overview](https://deeplearning4j.org/docs/latest/keras-import-overview)

~~~
king_magic
Right, but you can just as easily train a model with TensorFlow on Databricks
- maybe I’m missing something, though.

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mlthoughts2018
After doing a significant deep dive into Databricks as a third party solution
for my team at work, we decided Databricks and a deep commitment to Spark was
a very poor choice for machine learning, though Spark seems generally fine as
an interface for map reduce or scheduled cluster compute tasks.

Spark is in 2019 what Hadoop was in ~2014. In 5-6 years Spark will be the
cure-all basket that a bunch of people put all their eggs into not realizing
the deep-seated limitations. This is especially true for machine learning.

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ganeshkrishnan
Spark is big data processor. Use dl4j or tensor flow along with it for machine
learning

~~~
mlthoughts2018
Use of those tools (along with MLlib and virtually anything relying on a py4j
bridge) was precisely the setup I tested and found to have unacceptably poor
performance when taken across our range of both large and small workloads, in
addition to many problems with deep inflexibility in controlling the runtime
environment on a per-project basis (our most critical requirement).

See my other comment below with a link to a previous discussion.

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nikkwong
Incredible. I know Adam (the founder), and he is a super terrific nice guy.
Good for them.

~~~
agibsonccc
Thanks Nikk!

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suyash
Congrats to the SkyMind team, I have given a few talks on Machine Learning
using DL4J and it’s been nothing but an excelllent framework for Java
Developers to learn.

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agibsonccc
Tech side here if you have any other questions!

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AnimalMuppet
Yeah, _that_ name isn't ominous or anything...

