Vayyar nabs $109M for its “4D” radar tech, which detects and tracks images while preserving privacy
0Reported today on TechCrunch
For the full article visit: https://tcrn.ch/37kagem
Vayyar nabs $109M for its "4D" radar tech, which detects and tracks images while preserving privacy
The future of the connected home, connected car, and connected everything will have a lot of imaging technology at the center of it: sensors to track the movement of people and things will be a critical way for AI brains to figure out what to do next. Now, with a large swing towards more data protection - in part a reaction to the realization of just how much information about us is being picked up - we're starting to see some interesting solutions emerge that can still provide that imaging piece, but with privacy in mind. Today one of the startups building such solutions is announcing a big round of funding.
Vayyar, an Israeli startup that builds radar-imaging chips and sensors as well as the software that reads and interprets the resulting images which is used in automotive and IoT applications (among others) - providing accurate information about what is going on a specific place, even if it's behind a wall or another object, but without the kind of granular detail that would actually be able to personally identify someone - has picked up $109 million, money that it will use to expand the range of applications that it can cover and to double down on key markets like the US and China.
From what I understand from sources close to the deal, this round is being done at a valuation "north" of $600 million, which is a big step up on the company's valuation in its C-round in 2017, which was at around $245 million post-money, according to PitchBook data.
Part of the reason for the big multiple is because the company already has a number of big customers on its books, including the giant automotive supplier Valeo and what Raviv Melamed - V