Blickfeld closes new financing round
LiDAR start-up Blickfeld announces Series A financing round with participation of Continental AG and Wachstumsfonds Bayern
Munich, March 20th, 2020 – Munich-based LiDAR start-up Blickfeld has completed its Series A financing round. The new financing was led by the venture capital unit of Continental together with Wachstumsfonds Bayern, which is managed by Bayern Kapital, with participation of the existing investors Fluxunit – OSRAM Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, TEV (Tengelmann Ventures) and Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners. Blickfeld will use the new financial resources to ramp up production, qualify its LiDAR sensors for the automotive market and strengthen the application development and sales teams for industrial markets.
Blickfeld develops and produces LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors and software for environmental detection. The solid-state sensor developed by Blickfeld delivers high-resolution, three-dimensional environmental data and stands out due to its high performance even in adverse environmental conditions and its small size. Blickfeld’s patented technology is particularly advantageous in terms of its industrialization capability and enables highly automated production of the devices, allowing the company to meet the needs of the automotive mass market. The sensors are used in autonomous driving as well as in smart cities, industrial applications and security solutions.
The series A funding enables Blickfeld to ramp up production. „The safety of autonomous vehicles is based on LiDAR sensor technology. We see Blickfeld in a unique position here, as our technology stands out due to its mass market capability,“ says Blickfeld co-founder Florian Petit. „But the mobility sector is not the only area of application for our LiDAR sensors and recognition software: Numerous other successful customer projects in logistics, smart cities or the security sector confirm our approach, as does the financial commitment of the venture capital unit of Continental, Bayern Kapital and our previous investors. We are now looking forward to taking the next steps into series production.“
The start-up Blickfeld, founded by Dr. Mathias Müller, Dr. sc. Florian Petit and Rolf Wojtech, has grown to a team of now over 100 people since it was founded three years ago. Over the next few months, in particular the application development and sales teams will be further expanded so that the company can increasingly pursue potential in industrial applications in addition to the automotive market. In the coming months, the Blickfeld team will also concentrate on qualifying the LiDAR sensor’s core components for the automotive market and further expanding production.
About Blickfeld:
Founded in 2017 and based in Munich, Germany, Blickfeld provides cutting-edge LiDAR sensors and perception software, enabling countless mobility and IoT applications. The Blickfeld LiDAR products meet extremely demanding technical specifications with regard to the performance, cost and dimensions required for the mass market.
Blickfeld is backed by Continental AG, as well as venture capital investors including Bayern Kapital, Fluxunit (the corporate venture arm of lighting company Osram), High-Tech Gründerfonds, Tengelmann Ventures, and Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners.
About UVC Partners:
Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners) is a Munich- and Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology-based startups in the areas of industrial technologies, enterprise software and mobility. The fund typically invests between € 0.5 – 3m initially and up to € 12m in total per company.
Portfolio companies benefit from the extensive investment and exit experience of the management team as well as from the close cooperation with UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading innovation and business creation center. With over 180 employees and more than 100 industry partners, UnternehmerTUM can draw from many years of experience in establishing young companies. This cooperation enables UVC Partners to offer startups unique access to talent, industry customers, and other financial partners. The portfolio includes investments such as FlixBus, Carjump (Free2Move), KONUX, Blickfeld, 3YOURMIND and Vimcar.
