Israeli Short-Wave-Infra-Red (SWIR) sensing technology developer TriEye announced today completion of a $17 milion Series A financing round led by Intel Capital. Other investors include Marius Nacht, co-founder of Check Point Software Technologies, and TriEye’s existing investor Grove Ventures, headed by TriEye chairman Dov Moran, the inventor of the USB flash drive and co-founder of M-Systems. TriEye has raised over $20 million to date including the latest round and a seed investment of $3 million led by Grove Ventures in November 2017.
TriEye’s HD SWIR camera, whose initial samples are expected to enter the market in 2020, is designed to save lives on the roads and is able to see in adverse weather and night-time conditions. The camera will allow Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles to achieve flawless vision capabilities under common adverse weather and low-light conditions such as fog, dust or night-time.
Similar to the common digital camera, TriEye's SWIR technology is CMOS-based, enabling the scalable mass-production of SWIR sensors and reducing the cost by a factor of 1,000 compared to current InGaAs-based technology. As a result, the company can produce an affordable HD SWIR camera in a miniaturized format, supporting easy in-vehicle mounting behind the car’s windshield.
Tel Aviv-based TriEye was founded in 2016 by CEO Avi Bakal, VP R&D Omer Kapach, and CTO Prof. Uriel Levy, after nearly a decade of advanced nano-photonics research by Prof. Levy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Bakal said that the company’s Raven camera has already drawn the attention of global vehicle manufacturers. “Low visibility conditions such as fog, darkness and dust, and hazards such as black ice on the road, are some of the main contributors to injuries and fatalities in car crashes. In the US alone, around 21% of all vehicle crashes - nearly 1.2 million annually - are weather related and often involve low visibility. Our mission is to save lives, reduce risks of accidents in these kind of safety critical conditions and do this in a very cost efficient way.”
He added: “The funding will be used to execute on our product roadmap for HD SWIR solutions, including our proprietary sensing algorithms. We are humbled by the trust shown by the investors in our series A round, and we remain mission-focused on this opportunity.”
Intel Capital Israel’s Managing Director Yair Shoham, who joined TriEye’s board, added: "As the automotive industry transitions to autonomous driving, demand for sensor technologies is expected to grow rapidly. TriEye technology has the potential to enhance traditional camera functionalities by increasing performance in low visibility conditions in a way that complements vision-based camera sensor technologies. Intel Capital is delighted to support the TriEye team as it works to deliver on its vision.”
Also joining the company's board are Ophir Shoham, former Rear Admiral and former Director of Defense R&D Directorate in the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MAFAT), and Ido Yablonka, former VP and General Manager of Yahoo Israel.
"I am proud of TriEye’s team for delivering superb results so far and remaining adamant about their vision. The opportunity is huge, and Grove Ventures is happy to continue fostering TriEye's remarkable journey," said Dov Moran, the company's first investor and chairman of the board.
While TriEye’s primary target market is the automotive industry, its technology is highly applicable to a wide range of other sectors, including mobile, industrial, security and optical inspection. The company intends to address challenges and opportunities in these fields in the upcoming future.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 28, 2019
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