Hyundai CRADLE, Hyundai Motor Company’s corporate venture arm announced today a strategic investment in Israeli computer vision deep learning startup allegro.ai Hyundai's strategic partnership with allegro.ai will allow more rapid deployment of AI technology in many business areas and will improve the quality of Hyundai’s products, thereby increasing customer satisfaction while creating a safer driving environment. The size of the investment was not disclosed but is estimated to be several million dollars.
Founded in 2016, allegro.ai offers the first end-to-end DL lifecycle management solution focused on deep learning as it applies to computer vision. The company’s platform simplifies the process of developing and managing deep learning-powered solutions - such as autonomous vehicles, drones, security, logistics and others.
Head of Hyundai CRADLE TLV Ruby Chen said, "Deep learning computer vision is one of the core technologies that can be applied to autonomous driving to navigate roads and make quick decisions in realtime - and allegro.ai is clearly an innovation leader in that field. Our investment in allego.ai is a further step in enhancing our presence in the Israeli market, a global leader of technological innovation in the fields of automation, artificial intelligence and deep learning. This is our fifth investment in an Israeli company and our activities will continue to grow the coming year".
allegro.ai cofounder and CEO Nir Bar-Lev said, “We are proud to partner with Hyundai and share Hyundai’s belief that AI empowers the industry to provide greater road safety, autonomy, to better understand customers’ needs and to help broaden their experiences. Whether a company is developing autonomous vehicles, drones, security, or other types of applications, allegro.ai makes it easy for them to manage their data-sets and build deep learning-based solutions while guaranteeing complete and confidential control of their data.”
Hyundai CRADLE Tel Aviv has now invested in two Israeli venture capital funds and five Israeli startups: Autotalks, Percepto, OPSYS Tech Ltd, D-ID and now Allegro.ai.. Hyundai, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) are also joining forces on various AI R&D projects.
Chen said, “Israel is a superpower in the development of automotive technologies and Hyundai sees huge potential for Israeli startups to complement the company’s global automotive strategy. Hyundai has already identified dozens of Israeli startups with the potential to help us achieve our goal to introduce smart, autonomous, green and accessible transportation solutions that are accessible to everyone around the world.”
“In order to make our vision a reality and further our innovation, we aim to work with the most creative and brightest businesses across multiple industries,” said John Suh, vice president and Head of Hyundai CRADLE Silicon Valley. “Regardless of size and industry, Hyundai is open to any collaboration and partnership across regions, and Israel, being a 'Startup Nation' is an ideal candidate. With long term interest in the Israeli innovation arena we can now take our activities and presence in the local market to the next level, by launching CRADLE Tel Aviv. "
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 5, 2018
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