Buddywise has today announced their €3.5M seed round to prevent workplace accidents in industrial spaces around Europe. The round was co-led by specialist AI fund J12 and Kvanted, with Soundcloud founder Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss also participating.
Sweden-based Buddywise uses machine learning and computer vision to detect safety risks in the workplace before collating this risk data to prevent further accidents. Industrial clients connect their existing camera infrastructure to the Buddywise platform, which uses algorithmic analysis of the footage to flag potential risks — for example, if a worker is exposed to a gas leak and falls unconscious, it triggers an alert so they can be helped immediately instead of lying undiscovered.
The AI vision software is currently in use at infrastructure and manufacturing sites across Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Poland, and new funding will be channelled primarily towards outreach and recruitment as well as further expansion across Europe.
Digital transformation has been less disruptive to construction than other industries. In 2021, there were 2.9 million non-fatal accidents that resulted in at least four calendar days of absence from work and over 3000 fatal accidents at work; the sector accounted for one fifth of incidents. The increasing focus on environmental, social, and governance criteria today – particularly from investors – means that many businesses are looking for software solutions.
Emmet King, Partner at J12, commented on the raise: “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.”
As with all computer vision applications, biometric data privacy is front of mind. Buddywise emphasised that GDPR compliance is a strict priority, both within operations and orchestrating partnerships.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments