Blackmore Sensors and Analytics Raises $18 Million Series B Financing Round to Scale Automotive Lidar Solution

Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, Inc., a leading developer of frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar for the automotive industry, announced today that it has raised $18 million in a Series B funding round led by BMW i Ventures. Additional investment comes from Toyota AI Ventures, Millennium Technology Value Partners and Next Frontier Capital.

“Advances in new sensor technologies, like lidar, are going to make cars safer and, eventually, autonomous,” said BMW i Ventures partner Zach Barasz. “Blackmore has unique and innovative FMCW lidar technology that delivers a new dimension of data to future vehicles.” Low-cost lidar sensors are required to enable self-driving vehicles. In addition to being more cost-effective, Blackmore’s FMCW lidar technology has several competitive advantages over traditional pulsed lidar systems, enabling autonomous driving teams to achieve their goals faster.

“Perception is critical to the perception-prediction-planning automated driving stack, and we’re excited to see the innovations that Blackmore is bringing to the top of this stack,” said Jim Adler, managing director of Toyota AI Ventures. “Blackmore’s groundbreaking FMCW lidar technology is designed to eliminate interference, improve long-range performance, and support both range and velocity — a triple threat to make autonomous driving safer.”

According to Dr. Randy Reibel, Blackmore’s CEO, it is that last capability that differentiates Blackmore’s sensor from its competitors. “Having the ability to measure both the speed and the distance to any object gives self-driving systems more information to navigate safely,” said Reibel. “Blackmore provides software and analytics so that its customers can get the most out of the FMCW lidar sensors.”

Blackmore will use the investment to scale the production of its FMCW lidar sensor for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving markets. Increased production capacity will allow Blackmore to support the growing sector of autonomous driving teams demanding a superior lidar solution.