PreAct Technologies, an Oregon-based developer of intelligent sensing technology designed to bridge the gap between collision avoidance and active safety, today announced $13 million in Series A funding led by State Farm Ventures. Additional participation in this round included Elev8.VC, Gotham Partners, Traylor Capital and Stargazer Ventures, among others.
“Every year nearly 50 million people, globally, are seriously hurt in car crashes and another 1.35 million die, which is completely unacceptable,” said PreAct CEO Paul Drysch. “At PreAct Technologies, we are focused on developing a reliable, high-speed detection, near-field sensing and perception system that will enable the world’s first mass production, pre-crash airbags and other safety countermeasures. This system will not only help prevent millions of serious injuries and fatalities, but will also save the economy around $120 billion each year,” he added.
By leveraging proven technology, and rethinking near-field sensing, PreAct Technologies is targeting “the last 100 feet” to predict crashes and prepare a vehicle for an imminent collision, deploying airbags and other safety devices before the crash happens. In an urban environment, being able to detect collisions milliseconds before they happen could help reduce the majority of severe injuries and fatalities from car crashes.
PreAct’s patent pending TrueSense sensors complement or may even replace many of the short-range sensors like radar, ultrasound, and cameras, estimated to be a $30 billion/year market, and enable pre-crash safety systems, while enhancing existing use cases such as park assist and self-parking. TrueSense sensors can help lower the cost and complexity of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and enable many new use cases that have proven challenging in the past.
“PreAct’s technology is a potential compelling advancement for car safety and will help to reduce serious injuries and fatalities. Moreover, utilizing the valuable driving behavior data that this technology detects may help create a more complete picture of driver risk.” said Michael Remmes, Vice President, State Farm Ventures.
On the heels of this funding round, PreAct was awarded a $1 million prize from Luminate for its TrueSense technology and will be establishing a manufacturing base in New York state.
