Industrial product and appliance maker Robert Bosch has led a $28m series A round for Israel-headquartered computer vision technology developer AnyVision that included two undisclosed US-based private equity groups.
Founded in 2015, AnyVision is developing plug-and-play facial, body and object recognition systems that attach to sensors, enabling existing equipment such as CCTV cameras to index and analyse any images the sensor picks up.
The funding will go to research and development as AnyVision looks to improve its core product. It recently moved into the US with a New York office and plans to open offices in Los Angeles, London and Singapore by the end of 2018.
Bernhard Schuster, senior vice-president at Robert Bosch subsidiary Bosch Building Technologies, said: “Our customers around the world are increasingly asking for ways of integrating person and object recognition software into our cameras.
“Collaboration with AnyVision will allow us to fulfil this customer wish even better and offer an enhanced package of solutions.”
The round follows investments by Bosch in two other machine vision technology developers: Chronocam, as part of a $15m series B round in late 2016, and Modcam, for which it provided about $600,000 in funding in 2015.