Workplace health and safety is a rising global concern. According to the International Labour Organisation, nearly three million workers die every year due to work-related accidents and diseases. Furthermore, there are more than 395 million serious accidents annually, causing lifelong injuries for workers globally. The total economic loss from work-related deaths and disability-adjusted life years equates to 6% of the global GDP.
Resolving this challenge is Buddywise, a Stockholm-based platform transforming workplace safety with AI across Europe. It uses CCTV cameras and AI analysis of the video stream to detect and report workplace risks 24/7.
Growth and expansion plans
Now, Buddywise secured €3.5 million in seed funding after over a year of closing its pre-seed round at €1.2 million. The latest round was co-led by Helsinki-based industrial technology fund Kvanted, data and AI specialist fund J12 (invested in Deasie and Treyd), and joined by existing investors Aligned and Antler.
A group of high-profile angel investors, including Hans Stråberg (Chair at Atlas Copco and SKF), Hans-Olov Blom (founder of Ramudden Global), and Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss (founder of Soundcloud) also participated in the round.
With the new capital, Buddywise will accelerate the recruitment of top commercial and tech talent and further expand its existing customer base of international industrial enterprises to initiate the company’s commercial expansion across Europe.
AI-powered workplace safety
Buddywise was founded in 2020 by Lamin Faye and Yiğit Can Arin with decades of experience in the safety and software domain. Lamin spent eleven years in top leadership roles within the utility Vattenfall and has been leading health & safety teams and innovation teams launching new digital products. Yiğit has spent over ten years developing software used by millions of people, both as a software engineer and a product manager, the latest at Spotify.
The company has built a workplace safety solution that utilises the power of AI and computer vision to pinpoint real-time safety risks. Industrial clients can easily connect their existing camera infrastructure to the Buddywise platform. The platform enables safety leaders and management to immediately take action at the earliest indication of risk, and proactively mitigate hazards as the 24/7 collection of data generates continuous insights to learn and act upon.
As per the company, its technology can increase the protection of teams working on industrial sites and has the potential to disrupt workplace safety practices across Europe and beyond.
Currently, Buddywise’s solution has already been adopted at multiple industrial sites across Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Poland, covering industries ranging from infrastructure and manufacturing to pulp and paper.
“Everybody should be able to return home unharmed after a day’s work, so we can’t accept the status quo. Every accident can be prevented and with Buddywise Operational and Safety leaders can finally get the real-time data they need to do so. The new funding means that we can bring more customers towards their zero injury vision and we will invest heavily into our ability to enable learning and action based on our data-driven insights,” said Lamin Faye, co-founder and CEO at Buddywise.
“Recent advancements related to computer vision models have seen great improvements in image classification and object detection, while also enabling efficient learning from limited information and more reliable performance across diverse real-world conditions. This has positioned the technology to be the primary tool in combating the serious issue of workplace safety and to replace the status quo of reporting apps, inspections, and sensors. Buddywise has built a leading solution and we’ve been thoroughly impressed by the way Lamin, Yigit, and the rest of the team are working towards a zero injury vision,” said Emmet King, Partner at J12.
”Workplace safety is crucial in the industrial sector, and to date, it is an area still lagging when it comes to digital transformation. Buddywise is a pioneer in changing this and that is the very reason we chose to support them. Buddywise’s unique solution, built on computer vision models, identifies and reports risks, and can prevent fatal accidents on the factory floor. The technology brings safety in the industrial sector into the digital age. We are super excited to join Lamin, Yigit, and the team in their journey towards a zero-injury vision,” said Maria Wasastjerna, Founding Partner at Kvanted.
“Lamin and Yigit are a highly experienced founding team committed to addressing a major challenge – workplace safety. This is a practical application of AI and computer vision that is already saving lives and helping to avoid injuries and has the potential to impact thousands of lives across Europe and around the world. We are delighted to have backed Buddywise from day zero and have every confidence in their future success”, comments Oscar Westergard, Partner at Antler.
