US-based lidar sensor developer Ouster Lidar received $42m in series B funding yesterday from investors that included media, communications and automotive conglomerate Cox Enterprises, according to TechCrunch.
Venture capital firms Fontinalis Partners and Tao Capital Partners also participated in the round, which the company said lifted its overall funding to $140m since it was founded in 2015.
Ouster provides light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors that utilise complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, for use by autonomous vehicles in addition to robotics, industrial automation and smart infrastructure systems.
The company cut its workforce by about 10% during the Covid-19 pandemic but has managed to increase sales year on year as customers replace analogue sensors with its digital devices.
Cox led a $27m series A round disclosed when Ouster emerged from stealth in 2017. It included power producer Exelon’s Constellation Technology Ventures unit as well as Tao Capital Partners, Fontinalis Partners, Carthona Capital and Amity Ventures.
Ouster added $60m in a March 2019 round led by Runway Growth Capital and backed by Cox, Constellation Technology Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, Carthona Capital and Silicon Valley Bank.
Angus Pacala, Ouster’s chief executive, said: “Ouster’s digital lidar architecture gives us fundamental advantages that are winning over customers in every market we serve.
“Digital CMOS technology is the future of lidar and Ouster was the first to invent, build, patent and commercialise digital lidar. Once our customers experience the resolution and reliability of these sensors at an affordable price, there is no turning back to legacy analogue lidar.”
