Vehicle inspection is a painstaking affair and requires immense attention to detail. When it comes to checking several vehicles, there is a likelihood of human error. Now there’s help at hand with US- and Israel-based UVeye, which comes to the rescue with the world’s first fully-automated suite of vehicle inspection systems.
In a recent development, UVeye completed its Series D investment round with a $100 million investment. The round was led by Hanaco VC, a VC firm from New York and Tel Aviv that invested in Chain Reaction and InFarm. Existing investors – GM Ventures, CarMax, W.R. Berkley Corporation, F.I.T. Ventures L.P., and Israeli institutional investors, also participated in the round.
With this round, the total funding raised by UVeye accounts for $200 million in investment capital and formed strategic partnerships with numerous automakers, dealership groups and used-car auctions.
The fresh funds will be used to start the production of UVeye inspection systems in North America, support further sales growth in the US, and fuel new-market expansion efforts. Currently, the company has facilities in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, including offices in Israel, Japan, Germany and the US.
Amir Hever, the company’s CEO and co-founder said, “The confidence that Hanaco VC and our other strategic investors have shown in UVeye will allow us to further scale our operations and introduce industry-first inspection technology at thousands of dealerships, used-car auctions and fleets throughout the United States within the next three years.”
Lior Prosor, partner at Hanaco VC, noted “Automated inspection of vehicles enabled by advanced computer vision and AI is in its first innings, but will completely transform the auto industry. We have spent the last 24 months looking for the right player to back in this market and believe UVeye is best positioned to become the long-term category leader in the space.”
AI-powered vehicle inspection system
Brothers Amir and Ohad Hever co-founded UVeye in 2016 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company brings vehicle inspections into the digital age for the security and automotive sectors with artificial intelligence. With its innovative products, UVeye has set the future standard of vehicle inspection. The company provides high-end solutions for automatic external inspection of vehicles, using advanced technologies – proprietary hardware combined with machine learning and computer-vision algorithms.
Currently, the company produces three high-speed vehicle inspection systems suited for use at new- and used-car dealerships, used-car auctions and major fleets. These include Helios, an underbody scanner that detects a wide variety of problems; Artemis, which checks tire quality within seconds; and Atlas, a 360-degree vehicle-exterior detection system.
