The gains Netradyne has made in improving driver safety helped the San Diego-headquartered company last week close on $150 million in Series C funding.
The latest funding round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from M12 and Point72 Ventures and resulted in an estimated $1 billion post-money valuation, according to Pitchbook.
Netradyne plans to use these new funds to hire employees for research and development, marketing and customer support and expand beyond its current markets, North America and India, into Europe.
“This investment by SoftBank solidifies our global marketplace leadership position in fleet safety technology,” said Netradyne CEO Avneesh Agrawal. “With this new infusion of capital, we will invest even more deeply into advanced AI technology and accelerate our international expansion — all in support of furthering our mission to create safer roadways for all.”
To date, Netradyne has raised more than $197 million, which has helped with the development and deployment of its advanced vision-based driver recognition camera called Driveri.
Netradyne has created two types of cameras, its D-210 for small to medium-sized vehicles and the D-410, which give a 360-degree view of heavy-duty vehicles to review both in-cab and road diversions from drivers taking phone calls while driving to sensing hard braking from other drivers on the road.
The company also has created Driver Star programs to reward safe driving and has infused feedback notifications to help train new drivers.
While the technology solutions create a safer working environment for drivers, Netradyne’s Fleet Dashboard and HD Maps enable principals with actionable insights into their fleets. These tools help visualize route optimization and real-time driver location with the help of the company’s patented mapping methods, especially helpful for its sizable customers in hard-to-reach locations in India.
With the suite of tools, Netradyne says it has been able to reduce distracted driving cases by 60% and improve following distance by 76%, leading to its global customers’ insurance claims dropping by 82%.
“We believe Netradyne is an industry leader who is poised to profoundly impact the entire transportation ecosystem by creating safer roads,” said Nagraj Kashyap, a managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
“Through its advanced vision-based technology, Netradyne is helping to improve the commercial driver experience and performance to help reduce transportation-related deaths and injuries on the roadways. We are pleased to partner with Avneesh and the Netradyne team as they harness the power of computer vision and edge computing to revolutionize modern-day transportation,” Kashyap said.
Funding details: Netradyne
| Funding amount | $150 million |
| Funding round | Series C |
| Lead investor | Softbank Vision Fund 2 |
| Secondary investors | M12 and Point72 Ventures |
| Business goals for the round | Expand geographies and product line, add marketing, customer support and R&D employees |
| Post-money valuation | $1 billion* |
| Total funding | $197.5 million |
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