$15 million! Israeli thermal imaging sensor manufacturer successfully raised funds

According to foreign media reports, on October 22, local time, Israel's AdaSky announced the completion of its Series B financing, successfully raising $15 million. This round of financing was led by previous investors such as Japan's Kyocera Corporation and South Korean parts manufacturer Sungwoo Hitech. Together with the company's latest round of financing in 2018, which raised $20 million, the company's total financing has reached $55 million so far.

AdaSky sensor system (Image source: AdaSky)

AdaSky develops and produces systems that combine high-resolution thermal imaging vision sensors with artificial intelligence technology for the automotive industry. The company was founded in 2015 by Avi Katz and Yaakov Dagan, both former engineers at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a defense contractor under the Israeli government. Currently, AdaSky has 70 employees, most of whom work in the northern Israeli city of Yokneam. The company's CEO is retired Colonel Yakov Shaharabani.

AdaSky develops and produces intelligent, high-resolution thermal sensing systems based on technology with different wavelengths from the human eye or ordinary cameras. Its sensor technology can detect the heat radiated by the human body to generate an accurate thermal map of the environment. Moreover, this technology is passive and does not require external energy or rely on lighting or weather conditions. The sensor can identify pedestrians 200 meters away, can see vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists, as well as animals and inanimate obstacles that are far beyond the reach of car high beams, and can classify them.

AdaSky's Viper thermal imaging camera can improve existing driver assistance technologies such as cruise control systems or ABS (anti-lock braking system), allowing vehicles to adapt to different traffic conditions. According to the company, Viper will also be used to improve the safety of self-driving cars in the future, and the company has signed a contract with an unnamed automaker. In addition, AdaSky is also negotiating commercial cooperation with other customers.

AdaSky also uses its thermal vision sensors in a variety of other products. For example, AdaSky's intelligent high-resolution LWIR thermal imaging camera, Sharp Vision, is designed to be used in smart city infrastructure and installed at intersections or areas with low visibility to warn of hazards such as cars and trucks on railroad tracks or to detect jaywalkers.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, AdaSky also developed a camera, Viper-R, which can measure the temperature of an unlimited number of individuals within a range of ten meters and issue an alert to those with elevated temperatures.