Dutch multisensor data fusion startup Autofill has secured 2.6 million euros in pre-series A funding to advance its inspection solution for the automotive and rail industries. The money is also earmarked to strengthen current operational deployments at partner sites and grow the engineering team. Headquartered in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, the company recently opened a second office at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.
The funding round was led by Innovation Industries. The investor was accompanied by the Deeptech Labs accelerator, initiated by Arm and the University of Cambridge, among others. Bram Schot, former CEO of Audi, and Rick Belluzzo, former COO of Microsoft, also participated in the round. They both joined Autofill’s advisory board earlier this year.
Currently, most object inspections in the automotive and rail sectors are performed by humans. Autofill’s solution combines vision technology, multisensor data fusion and artificial intelligence to automatically identify anomalies and increase the accuracy of quality standards. It can be thought of as a multi-dimensional camera inspection-style system that can detect every single aspect of a vehicle or train, including errors humans can’t spot. And while existing automated solutions require substantial space and infrastructure to function, Autofill’s solution can be incorporated seamlessly into existing operational processes. It thus promises dramatically improved safety and cost savings for companies hosting fleets of vehicles, across automotive, rail and beyond.
Autofill was co-founded by Gideon Richheimer (CEO), Luc Demarteau (COO), Stefan Verhoeven (CFO) and the former managing director of TNO Automotive, Daan de Cloe (CTO). The company successfully completed Deeptech Labs’ accelerator program. “Our technology removes the limitations presented by human involvement, significantly raising safety and accuracy standards, and making huge financial savings for the enterprise,” comments Richheimer. “We believe our solution will play an important role in accelerating a more efficient future initially for the automotive and rail industries.”
“Autofill is a ‘new-gen’ deep-tech startup founded by a very experienced team,” says Harm de Vries of Innovation Industries. “The offering is a market-validated, highly scalable solution. We’re convinced that Autofill will have a revolutionary impact on inspection workflow processes for numerous industries – potentially saving them billions of dollars a year.”
“I joined Autofill’s board of advisors earlier this year because I was so impressed by the experience of the leadership team and the credibility of its solution,” adds Bram Schot. “My subsequent investment in its future is testament to that continued confidence, and I look forward to witnessing the results of this successful funding round first-hand.”