US-based manufacturing analytics technology developer Drishti Technologies raised $25m yesterday in a series B round featuring subsidiaries of carmaker Toyota, chipmaker Micron, diversified conglomerate Sumitomo and automotive component producer Hella.
Toyota AI Ventures, Micron Ventures, Hella Ventures and Presidio Ventures joined venture capital firm Sozo Ventures, which led the round, Alpha Intelligence Capital, Emergence Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Spun out of research institute SRI International, Drishti provides artificial intelligence-equipped video analytics technology that can be used to study assembly line practices and help inform decisions on how to improve productivity.
Jim Adler, managing director of Toyota AI Ventures, said: “Most manufacturers lack meaningful data about manual assembly processes, because human actions are very difficult to measure. Drishti uses computer vision and AI to create continuous streams of data from video of manual actions.”
The series B proceeds will support the company’s domestic expansion in addition to growth in markets such as Japan, where Toyota and Sumitomo are headquartered. Toyota is already using the technology in its factories.
Emergence Capital led Drishti’s $10m series A round in May 2018, investing with Andreessen Horowitz and Benhamou Global Ventures. The latter two had contributed to a seed round of undisclosed size for the company the previous year.
