LiDAR developer Blickfeld extends its Series A Funding to $31M

09 Dec 2021

Investment supports Munich-based firm’s development of new products and expansion into US and Asia.

Blickfeld, the Munich, Germany-based start-up developing mass-producible LiDAR sensing technology, has announced the extension of the company’s Series A funding to $31 million.

New Future Capital, a private equity firm that provides growth capital, was attracted as a new investor. And all existing investors participated in the round.

Blickfeld stated that, “the new extension of financing comes at a time of significant growth for business, as well as its expansion into new markets. The company plans further development of sensors and software which continue to revolutionize the reliable capturing and utilization of 3D data.”

Since its last funding round, Blickfeld has taken significant steps forward in launching products to market, including the series production launch of its 3D-LiDAR sensors, Cube 1 and Cube Range 1, for multiple industrial applications. Furthermore, the company has executed multiple large-scale rollout projects, such as passenger flow detection at airports and volume measurement of bulk material in product warehouses.

In addition to the company’s current resellers in 13 countries, including Germany, Canada, China, and Japan, the new financing round will support the opening of offices in the US and Asia and therefore promote Blickfeld´s international foothold.

The new offices will be dedicated to expanding Blickfeld´s network of integrators thus making products accessible in applications worldwide faster and in larger quantities, serving the growing demand in the US and Asia as key markets. Alongside growth into new markets, the number of employees will rise significantly with a focus on the sales team.

New product launch

Early in 2022, Blickfeld will add to its product range with new breakthrough perception software technology with features including object detection, classification, tracking, and counting.

Fields of application for this new product include industry, smart traffic, security, unmanned aerial vehicles, and people analytics. The latter signals a significant opportunity for the global application of Blickfeld technology, by providing crucial data on congestion, crowd management, wait times, and more – whilst maintaining the privacy of members of the public.

Dr. Mathias Müller, co-founder and CEO of Blickfeld, comments, “The additional funding in this round of investment signals the continued confidence our investors hold in our vision to capture and analyze the world with a comprehensive solution.

“Our solutions are now being utilized by businesses and organizations across the globe. Now we are accelerating on our journey of internationalization and strive to further diversify our unique product range through this funding. Our new investor NFC´s strong network in Asia and the US will be of great value for Blickfeld to gain a firm foothold in the US and Asia quickly and substantially.”

Jörg Strauß, Senior Vice President & General Manager Business Line Visualization & Laser at ams Osram said, “As a long-term partner, we have been supporting Blickfeld from the beginning. Combining their proprietary MEMS technology with our industry leading 905 nm edge emitting Laser components, Blickfeld’s sensors show the capabilities of scanning LiDAR technology in real-world use cases and in industrial scale. We are looking forward to accompany their growth path in the future.”

Founded by Mathias Müller, Florian Petit and Rolf Wojtech in 2017, Blickfeld develops LiDAR sensors and perception software. The solutions provide high-resolution three-dimensional environmental information enabling applications spanning autonomous transportation and mobility, through to smart cities, and industry.