Paris-based Prophesee (previously Chronocam), an inventor of advanced neuromorphic vision systems, announced on Thursday that it has secured €50M with the close of its Series C round with funding from Prosperity7 ventures.at.
Investors who participated in the initial Series C round include Sinovation Ventures, Xiaomi, Intel Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, 360 Capital, iBionext, and the European Investment Bank. The announcement comes three years after raising €25M in a funding round led by led by European Investment Bank in 2019.
The French company has raised €127M since its founding in 2014.
Fund utilisation
Prophesee says the funds will help it to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its next-generation hardware and software products, address new and emerging market opportunities, and further scale the company across key ecosystems in semiconductors, industrial, robotics, IoT, and mobile devices.
Luca Verre, co-founder and CEO of Prophesee, says, “Gaining the support of such a substantial investor as Prosperity7 adds another globally-focused backer with a long-term vision and understanding of the requirements to achieve success with a deep tech semiconductor investment. Their support is a testament to the progress and potential that lies ahead for Prophesee. We appreciate the rigour they, and all our investors, have used in evaluating our technology and business model and are confident their commitment to a long-term relationship will be mutually beneficial.”
Prophesee: What you need to know
Prophesee was founded within iBionext Startup Studio, Paris, in 2014 by Ryad Benosman, Bernard Gilly, Christoph Posch, and Luca Verre.
The company has developed an ‘Event-Based’ approach to machine vision that allows for significant latency, reductions of power, and data processing requirements imposed by traditional frame-based systems.
Prophesee’s patented neuromorphic-based (Metavision) sensors and algorithms mimic how the human eye and brain work to improve efficiency in areas such as industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, IoT, security and surveillance, and AR/VR.
As a result, it can be implemented for a broad range of applications in industrial automation, IoT, and consumer electronics that require real-time video data analysis while operating under demanding power consumption, size, and lighting requirements.
Its partnership with Sony has resulted in a next-generation HD vision sensor that combines Sony’s CMOS image sensor technology with Prophesee’s Metavision sensing technology.
The company has a commercial partnership with leading machine vision suppliers such as Lucid, Framos, Imago, and Century Arks.
The company has local offices in Grenoble, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Silicon Valley. The company is driven by more than 100 engineers and holds more than 50 international patents.
It is backed by international equity and corporate investors, including 360 Capital Partners, European Investment Bank, iBionext, Intel Capital, Prosperity7 Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Sinovation, Supernova Invest, Will Semiconductor, and Xiaomi.
Investor
Prosperity7 Ventures is the diversified growth fund of Aramco Ventures, a subsidiary of Aramco, the integrated energy and chemicals company. The VC invests globally with a long-term view of breakthrough technologies and transformational business models that bring prosperity and positive impacts on a vast scale.
“Prophesee is leading the development of a unique solution that has the potential to revolutionise and transform the way motion is captured and processed,” says Aysar Tayeb, the Executive Managing Director at Prosperity7. “Prophesee and its unique team hit the criteria we are constantly searching for in startup companies with truly disruptive, life-changing technologies,” he adds.
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