Israeli startup TriEye, a manufacturer of short-wave infrared (SWIR) sensing technology, has secured US$19m in Series A funding following an investment from Porsche.
Led by Intel Capital, TriEye launched the funding round in May 2019 with early investments from Marius Nacht and TriEye’s existing investor Grove Ventures. Since its inception, TriEye has raised US$22m, including a seed investment of US$3m led by Grove Ventures in November 2017. The new funding will be used for ongoing product development and operations, as well as team growth.
The company’s CMOS-based Raven camera, which is set for public demonstration in 2020, will allow ADAS and AV to achieve unprecedented vision capabilities under adverse weather conditions and low-light environments.
TriEye believes that SWIR will play a key role in ADAS and AV development as other sensing solutions, such as radar, lidar and standard cameras, still fail in solving the low-visibility challenge.
Michael Steiner, member of the executive board for R&D at Porsche, said, “TriEye is a promising technology company led by an exceptionally strong team with experience in the areas of nanophotonics, deep learning and the development of semiconductor components. We see great potential in this sensor technology that paves the way for the next generation of driver assistance systems and autonomous driving functions. SWIR can be a key element: it offers enhanced safety at a competitive price.”
Avi Bakal, CEO and co-founder of TriEye, added, “Our mission is to save lives and reduce risks of accidents in all weather and lighting conditions. The expansion of our Series A round and the addition of Porsche as a strategic investor further proves that SWIR is a critical component in the necessary sensor fusion solution to enable safer and better ADAS and AV.”