Parisian Prophesee snags $28 million Series C to bring its computer vision tech to market

Prophesee, the Paris-based company developing computer vision technology, has raised a $28 million Series C, led by European Investment Bank with participation from iBionext, 360 Capital Partners, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and Supernova Invest.

Prophesee has developed proprietary sensors and algorithms in neuromorphic vision, which mimic how the human eye and brain work and can be applied in autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, security surveillance, etc. After three generations of development, the company recently launched its first off-the-shelf and production-ready event-based sensor, Metavision.

In Prophesee-patented Metavision sensors, each pixel is independent and asynchronous, only activating itself if it senses a change in the scene, a movement — called an “event.” This event-based approach to machine vision has a suite of benefits: lower requirements of power, latency, and data processing requirements compared to traditional frame-based systems; higher dynamic ranges of vision; and it’s more cost-efficient to boot.

With $68 million in funding to date, the company will now accelerate the commercialization of its technology. The next-generation version will target automotive and consumer markets, including autonomous driving and advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS), as well as uses in virtual/augmented reality and the Internet of Things.

“Our event-based approach to vision sensing and processing has resonated well with our customers in the automotive, industrial and IoT sectors, and the technology continues to achieve impressive results in benchmarking and initial industrialization engagements. This latest round of financing will help us move rapidly from these successes to broader market adoption,” said Luca Verre, co- founder and CEO of Prophesee. “Our agreement with the EIB gives us a flexible and practical way to access capital we need and having the backing of our original investors further strengthens our ability to take advantage of the market opportunities we see in key sectors.”

Chairman of iBionext, Bernard Gilly said: “Prophesee continues to execute on its strategy to deliver a truly disruptive and game-changing innovation to the world of machine vision. Rooted in several years of development and strengthened with key commercial partners, the Company is now poised to achieve much wider industrial penetration. Together with the existing investors, the strong support of the EIB gives the Company the resources needed for its growth and makes us even more confident in its success.”