[January 18, 2017] |
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Neurala Announces $14 Million Series A to Bring Deep Learning Neural Network AI Software to Drones, Self-Driving Cars, Toys and Cameras
Neurala, the software company that has invented The Neurala Brain, a
deep learning neural networks platform that is making smart products
like toys, cameras and self-driving cars more autonomous, interactive
and useful, today announced the closing of a $14 million series A
funding round.
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Car on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts automatically identifies pedestrians, cars, cyclists and trucks in the scene. Recognition is done in real-time. This is how a self-driving car can see the world. (Photo: Business Wire)
The round was led by Pelion Venture Partners, with participation from
Sherpa Capital, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, 360 Capital
Partners, Draper Associates Investments, SK Ventures, and Idinvest
Partners through its Electranova Capital II Fund and in partnership with
Ecomobility Ventures. Both 360 Capital Partners and Draper Associates
also provided seed funding. Neurala will use the capital to accelerate
servicing of its rapidly increasing customer demand, as well as to
revolutionize additional application areas by adding built-in
intelligence and autonomous behavior.
"The Neurala Brain was designed from the beginning to transform
industries," said Massimiliano "Max" Versace, co-founder and CEO of
Neurala. "Bio-inspired brainpower can be built right into drones, cars,
toys, cameras, and other devices found in the home so that they can
learn, see and act. This is essential for applications like drones and
self-driving cars, where reaction time is critical and where you can't
always get fast network access. It's also an endearing capability when
built into toys that recognize their young owners by sight and give them
a smile without communicating with a server."
Neurala pioneered the development of deep learning neural network
software for NASA to use in planetary exploration, where processing
power, battery life and communications are limited. Instead of designing
deep learning neural networks for super computers, as other companies
do, The Neurala Brain was designed to work where the decisions need to
be made. Today, Neurala has customers deploying a broad range of
applications, including autonomous drones and cars. Customers include
Teal Drones, Parrot and multiple members of the Fortune Global 500.
Neurala is currently working with Motorola Solutions on new applications
of video, image and audio analytics for public safety.
Neurala's neural network software uses a bio-inspired approach to mimic
the way the human brain learns and analyzes its environment. This
software enables a variety of smart products-from self-driving cars and
industrial drones to toys, consumer electronics and smart cameras-to
learn, adapt and interact in real time. With The Neurala Brain, toys can
learn to identify their owners, security cameras can identify specific
threats, drones can "learn" how to diagnose problems at the tops of cell
towers, saving humans considerable danger and drudgery, and self-driving
cars can be safer and learn to avoid obstacles.
One significant differentiator of Neurala's deep learning software is
that it scales from embedded hardware to powerful servers. Neurala calls
this an "Anywhere Brain." By operating "on the edge" and locally on the
device, toys can entertain without communicating personal information to
a third party, and applications like self-driving cars need not rely on
the internet-which can be slow or unavailable-to avoid accidents.
Neurala's software development kit (SDK) supports industry-standard
NVIDIA, ARM (News - Alert) and Intel processors, so teams can develop for the processor
that is best for their product instead of being forced to select a
high-priced proprietary processor.
"Motorola Solutions is constantly seeking ways to accelerate technology
innovation for our public safety and commercial customers, who work in
demanding and often dangerous environments," said Paul Steinberg, Chief
Technology Officer, Motorola Solutions. "Neurala brings advanced deep
learning capabilities that will enable us to further explore the
potential of artificial intelligence to augment our customers'
experiences 'at the edge.' This has the power to do things like help
police find a missing person faster or guide a field worker's
maintenance activities by turning their body -worn camera into a sensor
that can recognize actionable information in video and images-in real
time at the edge."
"Almost every application on earth can benefit from becoming smarter,"
said Tim Draper, well-known venture capitalist and founder of Draper
Associates. "Neurala is the only platform that enables products to see
and react in their worlds, with fast, local, real-time learning. It's
already driving innovative new intelligent hardware applications even as
it makes current ones more efficient, with greater financial
feasibility."
"Pelion is a firm that believes in a future in which automobiles,
robots, drones and other mobile hardware devices will need to
navigate the world autonomously and safely, and we believe that Neurala
has the right solution to enable that future," said Senior Associate Ben
Lambert of Pelion Venture Partners. "Neurala's executives have a deep
technology background and have been leading development efforts in this
industry since 2006. As a result, the company is far ahead of its
competitors and is at the forefront of the deep learning and computer
vision space."
"Neurala technology is already achieving great traction in Europe. We
will be able to help the company's founders build upon that momentum to
accelerate growth," said Idinvest Director Julien Mialaret. "Our fund
sponsors have ideas for ways to deploy Neurala's exciting technology."
About Neurala
Neurala, Inc. (http://www.neurala.com)
is a software company that developed The Neurala Brain- deep learning
neural network software that makes smart products like inspection
cameras, robots, drones, toys, consumer electronics and self-driving
cars more autonomous, engaging and useful. Neurala provides
off-the-shelf and customized solutions spanning the world's highest-end
applications to inexpensive everyday consumer products. With the Neurala
Brains for Bots Software Development Kit (SDK) and an ordinary camera,
products can learn people and objects, recognize them in a video stream,
locate them in the video and follow them as they move. The company has
raised a total of $16 million in funding from Pelion Venture Partners,
Sherpa Capital, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, 360 Capital
Partners, Draper Associates Investments, SK Ventures, TechStars and
Idinvest Partners. The Neurala Brain technology is based on technology
originally developed for NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Follow Neurala on
Twitter at @Neurala, on Facebook (News - Alert) at www.facebook.com/neurala,
on YouTube (News - Alert) at www.youtube.com/c/NeuralaTV
or LinkedIn (News - Alert) at https://www.linkedin.com/company/neurala.
About Pelion Venture Partners
Pelion Venture Partners is an early stage technology venture capital
firm with a national track record of investing in software-based
businesses that manage the exponential growth in the movement of
information, or "bits," across wired and wireless networks. Founded in
1986, Pelion has been a partner to leading technology innovators
CloudFlare, Fusion-io, Integral Ad Science, Dino, RedHat, and Riverbed (News - Alert).
For more information, visit www.pelionvp.com.
About Idinvest Partners, Electranova Capital II Fund and Ecomobility
Ventures
Idinvest Partners, with assets under management of over €7 billion, is
the largest venture capital investor in continental Europe and one of
the most active investors in the European mid-market segment. Idinvest
has supported over 160 high-tech companies to date and has specific
expertise in information technologies (internet/media, software and
telecommunications), new energy and environmental technologies, mobility
and healthcare (biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical instruments).
Electranova Capital II Fund works with entrepreneurs in new energy,
smart city and mobility. The fund helps accelerate the growth of
high-tech companies to reach markets worldwide. Electranova II was
created in February 2016 through a partnership between Idinvest
Partners, EDF Group and Allianz - the financial and insurance group.
Electranova Capital II, which is independently managed by Idinvest
Partners, leverages the business partnerships, technical collaboration
and sales references provided by its corporate sponsors. Electranova
invests in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia.
Ecomobility Ventures is an investment fund dedicated to sustainable
mobility sponsored by SNCF, Total, Orange, Air Liquide and Michelin.
Ecomobility Ventures is positioned as a long-term partner for pioneering
young companies. Its objective is to support a dozen start-ups aspiring
to become the leaders of tomorrow.
To know more, visit www.idinvest.com
and www.em-v.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170118005301/en/
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