Trillions of dollars’ worth of goods move through the world’s ports, airports, factories, warehouses, and depots every year as part of the global supply chain. Some obstacles that these hubs must overcome include a lack of drivers, supply problems, and safety issues. Full-scope autonomous solutions from Venti are compatible with any vehicle in any logistical or industrial hub and don’t call for any modifications to the current infrastructure.
Venti Technologies, a firm that creates autonomous driving technologies for the logistics industry, has raised $28.8M in a Series A round of funding. The funding was led by LG Technology Ventures, the Silicon Valley-based venture capital arm of the LG Group, with participation from Safar Partners, UOB Venture Management, and existing investors Alpha JWC and LDV Partners.
The funds will be used to boost Venti’s growth and meet rising client demand internationally.
“With this new round of funding, we are well-positioned to broadly deploy our autonomous logistics solutions to power safer and more efficient global supply chains and industrial yards,” said Heidi Wyle, Founder and CEO. “Our autonomous vehicles have industrial grade precision in everyday operating environments and are already successfully in use. We have the potential to revolutionize goods transportation and are excited to be working with partners around the world to make this vision a reality.”
“Venti is solving real-world problems for large customers in huge markets with technology that has proven safe, mature and capable of near-term driverless deployment,” said Anshul Agarwal, Managing Director at LG Technology Ventures. “We are impressed not only by the technology, which is more complete and rapidly able to provide value to end customers, but also by the world-class team.”
Venti was founded in 2018 by a team with deep MIT roots, including CEO Dr. Heidi Wyle, Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Xinxin Du, and MIT electrical engineering and computer science professors Daniela Rus, Director, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and MacArthur Fellow, and Saman Amarasinghe.
Self-driving logistics
The company offers self-driving logistics for worldwide supply chains and industrial centres such as ports, airports, warehouses, factories, and depots. The company focuses on product transportation and uses industrial grade precise technology to provide rapid deployment, safety, and operating effectiveness for customers.
It has been testing self-driving vehicles at one of the world’s major container ports in Singapore for the past three years, and the company is already profitable.
“Venti represents exactly the kind of opportunity that appeals to Safar: best-in-class technology developed by leading minds from the world’s top universities working to develop innovative, implementable solutions that address real world market needs,” said Arunas Chesonis, Managing Partner at Safar Partners. “We enthusiastically support Venti in scaling its operations and demonstrating its value to a wider cast of partners and customers worldwide.”
