Drover AI announces that it has closed on a $5.4M Series A funding round, led by Vektor Partners and with follow-on participation from Seed investors including Avesta Fund, Masik Enterprises and Kurt Jaggers. They join existing investor 500 Global to support the scale up of its innovative solutions for computer vision and artificial intelligence in micromobility.
Drover AI has pioneered the use of onboard computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) in the micromobility sector with its first product, the PathPilot. The initial application has enabled enhanced safety and regulatory compliance due to PathPilot’s ability to do what no other technology can do reliably to date – detect sidewalks, streets and bike lanes while moving and validate proper parking compliance at the end of rides. Edge-based CV/ML not only provides unprecedented real-time contextual location awareness, but also presents opportunities to explore added value for cities and operators from unique insights created by vision based data collected from mobile assets.
“We are very fortunate to have secured the support of Vektor Partners on our mission to leverage computer vision and artificial intelligence for the benefit and long term success of micromobility,” said Christian Scheder-Bieschin, co-founder and CEO of Drover AI. “The team at Vektor contributes genuine strategic knowledge of the mobility space as well as an understanding of the huge potential value that exists in harvesting vision-based data from fleets of micromobility vehicles.”
“Micromobility is a big market, and it will continue to grow rapidly throughout this decade. Drover’s technology solves various pain points for cities, micromobility operators, and riders simultaneously, helping make urban transportation safer and cleaner while at the same time unlocking significant economic value by reducing cost and enabling new business models,” said Chris Riley, Partner and Co-Founder at Vektor Partners. “Working closely together with cities has hereby become a crucial element in establishing sustainable micromobility service offerings. We are very excited to be able to support the Drover team on this journey.”
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Since its founding in early 2020, Drover AI has wasted no time in proving out their technology and to establish itself as the leader in the space, with currently over 5,000 PathPilot units in operation on shared scooters across the US, EU and Asia with industry leading operators like Spin (owned by Tier), Voi, Bolt, Beam, Dott, and Helbiz. Drover partners have used PathPilot technology to differentiate their capabilities from more traditional positioning and tracking solutions, while cities have also welcomed the enhanced safety and regulatory compliance enabled by the ground breaking technology. As awareness of this technology grows with various stakeholders, Drover is capitalizing on the opportunity to integrate its technology more deeply with vehicle and IoT module manufacturers for future iterations of micromobility vehicles.