The Munich-based startup Blickfeld was able to close a seed financing round of 3.6 million euros with partners Fluxunit – OSRAM Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Tengelmann Ventures, and Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners.
The young company develops and produces LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems for the environmental perception of autonomous machines, especially autonomous vehicles. The sensor developed by Blickfeld provides high-resolution, three-dimensional environmental data and is based on commercially available components combined with a patented silicon structure that moves a laser beam across the scene.
“Blickfeld can be an important enabler”
Thanks to the investment, the sensor can now be qualified for use in production vehicles and the 18-person team can continue to grow. According to the company, there is strong interest from automakers. Previously available systems are either significantly more expensive or lack the performance required to enable self-driving cars to accurately perceive their surroundings.
Dr. Ulrich Eisele from OSRAM's venture capital unit Fluxunit about the investment:
“We are convinced that the Blickfeld, with its innovative beam guidance technology, can be an important enabler for making LiDAR suitable for mass market use in cars.”
Dr. Florian Petit, who founded the company together with optics expert Dr. Mathias Müller and computer scientist Rolf Wojtech, said:
"We are particularly pleased that both experienced venture capital investors and a major automotive supplier appreciate the potential of our technology. Their experience will certainly help us make rapid progress toward series production. We plan to deliver the first devices to our OEM partners in spring 2018."
Investors open the door to the automotive industry
The investor consortium's close contacts with the automotive industry are opening further doors for the team. Lead investor Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners has not only invested in Europe's largest long-distance bus provider Flixbus and the car-sharing platform Carjump, but is also closely involved with the recently opened “Digital Hub Mobility“, a cooperation between the German government and industrial partners such as Audi, BMW, Daimler, IBM, Infineon and Facebook.
“Blickfeld’s innovative technological approach and its experienced team offer the prospect of sustainably shaping the LiDAR market and, together with the strong investor consortium, building a relevant European technology provider for autonomous driving,”
explained Andreas Unseld, partner at Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners. High-Tech Gründerfonds and Tengelmann Ventures also have a number of automotive and mobility companies in their portfolios, including Uber. In addition to industry contacts and expertise, the consortium also brings the financial resources to significantly support Blickfeld in further financing rounds.
