Israeli smart dashboard camera developer Nexar has closed a Series A financing round of $10.5 million. The investment was led by new investors Mosaic Ventures and True Ventures, with seed backers Aleph and Slow Ventures also participating. Including the latest financing, the company has raised $14.5 million to date.
Nexar, which uses smartphones to create an Artificial Intelligence (AI) supported vehicle-to-vehicle network that works to predict and prevent accidents, is part of the self-driving car technology revolution.
The company, which has offices in Tel Aviv, New York and San Francisco, was founded by CEO Eran Shir and CTO Bruno Fernandez-Ruiz.
Having launched its app for iOS in February, Nexar is being used by drivers in 130 countries. Since their launch, they have been running intensive programs in San Francisco, New York City, and Tel Aviv to build a community of users and improve the system.
Since Nexar launched its dashcam, the smartphones managing it have captured, analyzed, and recorded over 5 million miles of driving in San Francisco, New York, and Tel Aviv. The company’s algorithms have now automatically profiled the driving behavior of over 7 million cars, including more than 45% of all registered vehicles in the Bay Area, and over 30% of those in Manhattan.
Using the smartphone’s camera, machine vision, and AI algorithms, Nexar recognizes the license plates of the vehicles around it, and tracks their location, velocity, and trajectory. If a car speeds past or performs an illegal maneuver like running a red light, that information is added to a profile in Nexar’s online database. When another Nexar user’s phone later detects the same vehicle, it can flash up a warning to give it a wide berth.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 15, 2016
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