Lidar technology developer Blickfeld has secured a $5.7m extension from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners to bring its seed round to $10m.
Germany-based lidar technology developer Blickfeld secured a $5.7m seed extension from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital (UVC) Partners on Tuesday to bring the round’s total to $10m.
Fluxunit Osram Ventures and Tengelmann Ventures, respective investment arms of lighting product maker Osram and retail group Tengelmann, also supported the extension, as did public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds.
The same group of investors supplied the original $4.3m tranche in October 2017. UVC Partners is a venture capital firm affiliated with Unternehmertum, the tech transfer office of Technical University of Munich.
Founded in 2017, Blickfeld produces Lidar sensors, laser-operated devices with similar function to radar which delineate the field-of-view in applications such as autonomous driving, robotics and internet of things.
The products are designed to collect 3D high-resolution data to ensure dependent devices have precise locational information.
The additional seed funding will help Blickfeld pursue accelerated business growth on the back of strong international demand, as the company prepares to fully-launch its first product, aimed at R&D. The money will also drive recruitment across several teams.
Ulrich Eisele, managing director at Fluxunit Osram Ventures, said: “Results from the first customer projects speak for themselves.
“That is why we are expanding our activities at Blickfeld. We are convinced that Blickfeld’s Lidar technology can be a key building block for the future market of autonomous driving.”
