Ottawa-based connected car startup Raven Connected is looking to hire after securing $10 million in Series A funding.
Raven says it has “experienced rapid customer growth” and developed strong relationships with key channel partners across North America.
The round was led by Telus Global Ventures with participation from Crown corporation Export Development Canada (EDC) through its Investment Matching Program, and return investors Celtic House Venture Partners and Graphite Ventures. Raven said the funding will allow it to expand its third-party integration partners, introduce new artificial intelligence (AI) models, and grow its workforce by more than 25 percent over the coming year.
“This funding round will contribute to Raven’s objective to democratize video telematics and expand our footprint as a leading aftermarket developer of connected vehicle technologies,” Raven co-founder and CEO Dan Carruthers said in a statement. “Having a Tier-1 communications infrastructure company like Telus join our investment syndicate will enhance our scale and reach as we look to expand our technology and channel partnerships outside of North America in the year ahead.”
Founded in 2016, Raven provides AI and internet-of-things (IoT) smart vehicle technology, particularly in video telematics such as dashcams. Its solution includes live GPS tracking, vehicle diagnostics, and a dual dash cam in order to help businesses monitor and analyze their vehicles and drivers, as well as keep track of any incidents. It also uses AI for facial and object detection to help companies identify who is driving a company vehicle or if the driver is on their cell phone.
Raven began collaborating with Telus in April 2022 to deliver a co-branded video telematics solution to underserved small and medium businesses, with plans to further integrate new offerings.
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In July 2022, Raven joined a connected car accelerator program run by L-SPARK and BlackBerry and secured an undisclosed amount in a seed extension round. Since then, Raven says it has “experienced rapid customer growth” and developed strong relationships with key channel partners across North America.
As part of this latest investment, Raven says Telus will continue to be its preferred IoT connectivity provider in Canada. Telus will offeraccess to its exclusive network dedicated to enterprise IoT traffic, bypassing the need for Raven to compete with mobile phone network traffic.
Last year, Telus and EDC also co-led a $260 million CAD investment into Kitchener-Waterloo’s connected city startup Miovision. Miovision uses a combination of computer vision, AI, and analytics to help cities reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.
Telus Global Ventures has been active in recent weeks, recently leading Swedish pet telehealth startup FirstVet’s €20 million ($29.3 million CAD) Series C funding round with participation from OMERS Ventures. FirstVet told BetaKit that Telus Global Ventures and OMERS are playing a key role as it looks to expand in North America.
Raven said it’s looking to introduce a comprehensive vehicle-to-everything (V2X) feature set to position itself as the “aftermarket video telematics vehicle solution of choice.” V2X refers to the integration of IoT devices in vehicles and enabling those devices to communicate with the car’s surroundings, such as traffic lights and other cars, with the aim of making roads safer.
Feature image courtesy Raven Connected.