4D imaging startup on track to ‘revolutionize’ 3D sensing market
The company provides what it says is the only fully integrated frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDAR technology 4D imaging chip, offered as a significant step forward in the quest to make machine vision more like human vision. The latest financing, says the company, will be used to expand its operations, accelerate product development, and gain additional production design wins – all in preparation for pre-production and product launch activities.
“Image processing capabilities of AI systems remain vastly inferior to those of humans, despite the use of massive computing power and high-resolution camera sensors,” says Mehdi Asghari, founder and CEO, SiLC. “The key difference is that our visual cognition is based on far more information than traditional image sensors. Our 4D+ vision sensors provide critical additional data and cues needed for efficient machine image processing and visual cognition much like the human eye does to the brain.”
Currently being readied for broad deployment, the company says its advanced, production-ready 4D+ Vision Chip offers best-in-class performance metrics across range, resolution, and accuracy for LiDARs and accomplishes this in a much smaller footprint and on an already proven scalable manufacturing platform. Additionally, it is the only solution on the market adding critical vector measurements including velocity, light polarization, and reflectivity.
The additional information derived from this data provides context and greatly improves perception of the environment, says the company, a breakthrough that has wide-ranging applications for autonomous vehicles, biometrics and security, robotics, and more. Over the last year, the company says it has provided development systems to customers that are at the forefront of their respective market segments, including mobility, industrial machine vision, robotics, augmented reality, and consumer applications.
The funding round was led by Alter Venture Partners and Dell Technologies Capital with additional participation from Fluxunit – OSRAM Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund by Innovation Growth Ventures, Epson, UMC Capital, Yamato Holdings and Global Brain. Following a $12 million seed round in 2020, the new financing brings the company’s total funding to over $30 million.
“The quality of investors we have attracted underscores the transformative potential of SiLC’s unique technology,” says Asghari. “This latest funding round will be critical as we continue on our journey towards revolutionizing the 3D sensor market.”
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