Participated · Series B · Sep 2024

DeepDrive develops a patented Dual Rotor electric motor architecture that it says delivers about a 20% efficiency increase and significant cost reductions versus benchmarks. The motors are designed to enable automakers to produce high-volume EVs with more than 800 km of range and can halve the price gap between ICE vehicles and EVs for consumers. DeepDrive projects that deploying its motors at scale could save automakers more than €1 billion in costs and cut up to five tonnes of lifetime CO2 emissions per vehicle, scaling to multiple gigatonnes across the fleet. The company reports a strong customer pipeline with co-development projects involving 8 of the world’s 10 largest automakers. With the new funding DeepDrive will build in-house production lines and industrialise its technology, and is readying the launch of its first series of large-scale electric motor projects from 2028. Financially, DeepDrive has raised €49.35 million in capital since its founding and completed a €30 million Series B in the current round. Munich-based DeepDrive develops a dual-rotor, radial-flux electric motor and integrated power electronics that can be used as a central drive or a wheel-hub drive. The company says its machine delivers the automotive industry’s highest torque and power density while producing low noise emissions and minimal torque ripple. DeepDrive also claims its motors require far fewer rare-earth materials than typical designs. According to the company, the technology can extend vehicle range by about 20% and allow roughly 20% smaller batteries versus today’s status quo. DeepDrive already works with eight of the top 10 automakers and plans to use new funding to kick industrial production into high gear and support a sustained recruitment drive to meet demand. The company says it is on track to roll out its offer en masse by 2026.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2024

TriLite designs and manufactures the Trixel® 3, which it bills as the world’s smallest projection display using Laser Beam Scanning (LBS) technology. The Trixel® 3 targets AR smart glasses, OEM/ODM integrations, and in-vehicle driver information systems. The company emphasizes a compact form factor that enables high brightness and image performance for both consumer AR and automotive use cases. TriLite holds multiple patents around its projection technology and plans to refine its IP while scaling mass production. Management says the latest funding will accelerate production and innovation. The company is based in Vienna, Austria and was founded in 2011; prior to the new round it had reported total raises of $9.29M. TriLite, based in Vienna and led by CEO Peter Weigand, develops ultra-compact projection displays for consumer augmented and mixed reality applications. Its Trixel® 3 module occupies just 0.92 cm3 and combines a micro-optical RGB laser light source with a MEMS mirror to deliver bright, high-quality images at very low power consumption. The company has invested in software, including proprietary calibration algorithms, to simplify developer adoption and minimize optical system size and complexity. TriLite also offers a manufacturing platform and high-volume supply chain to accelerate customers' time-to-market. The firm's stated aim is to help AR/MR glasses overcome the bulkiness and weight that have hindered mass-market adoption. In October 2021 TriLite raised €8m to continue expanding operations and broaden its business reach.

Participated · Equity · Dec 2023

Blickfeld develops full-stack LiDAR solutions combining compact sensors (notably the Qb2) with proprietary perception software called Percept to deliver real-time 3D data and actionable insights. The Qb2 is described as the first industrial smart LiDAR sensor with integrated perception software and is in mass production. The company supplies solutions for bulk goods volume monitoring and security applications, with customers including Levenseat and EEW Energy from Waste GmbH, and deployments at critical infrastructure such as airports and power stations. Blickfeld plans to use the new proceeds to accelerate sales, double revenue in the coming years, expand marketing and sales efforts, and further develop LiDAR technology for industry-specific applications. The company highlights recent high growth and sales achievements as drivers for additional investor commitment. Founded in 2017 and based in Munich, Blickfeld positions its products for markets in Europe, North America, and China. Blickfeld produces high-resolution 3D LiDAR sensors and associated software that act as the 'eyes' for autonomous vehicles. Its technology targets autonomous mobility and IoT applications and is also used in smart city management, warehousing, construction, mining, and security. The company plans to continue developing its sensors and software and pursue international expansion, particularly in the US and Asia. Founded in 2017 by Dr. Mathias Müller, Dr. sc. Florian Petit, and Rolf Wojtech and based in Munich, Blickfeld positions itself as a key component supplier for autonomous transportation. Financially, Blickfeld has raised a total of $56 million to date and has now secured a €15 million debt financing from the European Investment Bank via the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Company leadership said the EIB support demonstrates the firm's maturity and will enable faster expansion. Blickfeld, founded in 2017 and based in Munich, develops and produces high-performance, mass-producible LiDAR sensors and perception software. Its product lineup includes series-produced 3D-LiDAR sensors Cube 1 and Cube Range 1 for multiple industrial applications. The company has executed large-scale rollouts such as passenger flow detection at airports and bulk-material volume measurement in warehouses, and sells through resellers in 13 countries including Germany, Canada, China, and Japan. Blickfeld extended its Series A to $31M and will use the funds to expand into new markets, further develop sensors and perception software, and open offices in the US and Asia. Early in 2022 it plans to add perception software with object detection, classification, tracking, and counting to address industry, smart traffic, security, UAVs, and people analytics. The company also intends to significantly grow its headcount with a focus on the sales team to support international expansion. Blickfeld designs and manufactures solid-state LiDAR sensors and perception software that deliver high-resolution, three-dimensional environmental data with strong performance in adverse conditions and a compact form factor. Its patented technology is positioned for industrialized, highly automated production to meet mass-market requirements. The sensors are targeted at autonomous driving as well as smart cities, logistics, industrial applications and security solutions. Blickfeld plans to use new financing to ramp up production, qualify core LiDAR components for the automotive market, and expand application development and sales teams for industrial markets. The company has grown to a team of over 100 people since founding and is based in Munich. The business recently closed a Series A financing round with participation from strategic and venture investors. Blickfeld develops LiDAR sensors for environmental detection targeting autonomous driving, robotics, and Internet of Things applications. Its technology combines commercial off-the-shelf components with proprietary patented silicon micromirrors. The company says the patented approach makes high-tech LiDAR suitable for mass production, though it has not yet delivered on that promise. Blickfeld employs more than 35 people and plans to expand engineering, automotive, computer science, business development, marketing, and sales teams. Management says recent technical progress and international demand validate the efficiency of its solution. The company intends to use the seed financing to accelerate bringing its first series product to market.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2022

Autobrains (formerly Cartica AI) is a Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI mobility company that develops self-learning AI intended for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. The company leverages a signature-based, human-learning approach that maps raw, real-world data to compressed signatures to identify concepts and scenarios for optimal decision-making. Its technology is designed to learn like the human brain through neural networks and to process information in real time with no supervision. Autobrains says this enables cars to learn, collaborate and interact with the real world for improved decision-making. The company intends to use the funds to further refine its self-learning AI capabilities and expand into new domains such as trucks. It also plans to grow commercial reach and expand sites in Asia, Europe and the U.S.; the company is led by CEO Igal Rachelgauz and Chairman Karl-Thomas Neumann. Cartica AI is an autonomous AI mobility startup based in Tel Aviv, Israel that offers an automotive visual intelligence platform. Its platform is built on mature self-learning technology backed by more than 200 patents and uses signature-based representation structures with unsupervised learning methodologies to produce a comprehensive understanding of a vehicle's environment. The technology is intended to enhance applications including advanced driver assistance systems, L4/L5 autonomy, localization, and other mobility functions. Led by co‑founder and CEO Igal Raichelgauz, Cartica plans to launch its Autonomous AI platform and scale global operations. The company says it will use funding to increase vehicle safety and reduce casualties on global motorways. Cartica recently closed a Series B round whose amount was undisclosed.

Participated · Series B · Dec 2021

Apex.AI builds Apex.OS, a scalable operating system and SDK that lets OEMs implement complex AI and autonomous driving functionality across vehicles and robots. Its platform is positioned as analogous to Apple’s iOS SDK for vehicle software, intended to shorten development cycles for customers. Apex.OS has earned high safety certifications, including TÜV Nord product certification and ISO 26262 ASIL‑D. The company has attracted strategic OEM partners and investors, including a partnership with Toyota’s Woven Planet. Apex.AI is based in Palo Alto, CA, and targets safety‑critical automotive applications. Financially, the company accrued over $56 million in Series B funding as of last December and continues to draw OEM investments. Apex.ai develops safety-certified software tooling for automakers and other mobility customers, notably an ISO 26262–certified software development kit called Apex.OS for autonomous driving and safety-critical applications. The company also offers Apex.middleware, an enterprise middleware product that integrates protocols to improve communication between software applications. Apex.ai was founded by Bosch veterans Jan Becker and Dejan Pangercic and maintains offices in Palo Alto, Berlin, Stuttgart and Munich. The team recently secured TÜV NORD certification for Apex.OS at the highest ISO 26262 functional safety level, enabling use in production vehicles. Financially, Apex.ai has raised $74 million to date and plans to commercialize its existing products while developing new offerings for adjacent markets such as agriculture, mining, industrial automation and IoT. The company intends to double its workforce from about 70 to roughly 140 by the end of next year and to expand into Asia under the leadership of former Panasonic executive Tavis Szeto. Apex.AI is a Palo Alto-based startup founded by automated systems engineers Jan Becker and Dejan Pangercic that is building a robotic operating system qualified for use in production automobiles. The company focuses on an enterprise-focused version of the Robot Operating System open-source middleware. It lists two products, Apex.OS — providing simple-to-integrate APIs to give automakers access to fully certified autonomous mobility technology — and Apex.Autonomy, which supplies specific autonomy components such as perception, localization and path planning. Apex.AI positions its technology to help speed the process of getting autonomous driving systems into production vehicles across commercial and consumer offerings by enabling easier development of safety-certified systems, per Volvo Group Venture Capital's comments. Last November the two-year-old startup raised $15.5 million in a Series A. Volvo Group Venture Capital has made an investment via Volvo's VC arm; financial details were not disclosed and Volvo said the investment "has no significant impact" on its earnings or financial position. Apex.AI develops an enterprise-grade operating system for autonomous vehicles designed to never fail. Its software stack is positioned as an enterprise version of the Robot Operating System (ROS) and is built to integrate into existing systems. The company has engineered redundancies and schedules compute to guarantee safety-critical processes receive required execution time. Apex.AI is application-agnostic and targets a range of autonomous mobility platforms, including cars, drones, and flying taxis. The founders emphasize moving beyond R&D toward mass production as autonomy scales. Financially, the company emerged from stealth while announcing a new financing round to support these efforts.