International Labour Organization It is estimated that there are 340 million workplace accidents every year. voxel It was created to increase workplace safety through computer vision. The startup announced today that it has raised $12 million in strategic funding led by manufacturer Rite-Hite, with participation from returning investors Eclipse Ventures and MTech. This brings the total funding raised since 2020 to $30 million.
One thing that sets Voxel apart from other computer vision startups is that the technology integrates with existing security cameras, so companies don’t have to invest in new equipment. It can identify hazards, such as impending vehicle collisions, blocked exits, improper work environment (for example, if a worker bends in a way that could lead to injury) and spills. Alerts are sent in real time to the staff on site.
Voxel is currently used by companies such as Michael’s, Dollar Tree, Clorox, PPG Industries, and Office Depot. It was founded by CEO Alex Senemar, who previously launched Sherbit, an AI-powered remote health monitoring system for hospitals that was acquired in 2018 by Medopad. Other co-founders include CTO Anurag Kanungo, another co-founder of Sherbit who is also a software engineer in Uber’s self-driving unit; Harishma Dayanidhi, who developed self-driving car technology at Uber and Aurora; and former Google software engineer Troy Carlson. Voxel has a team of 50 employees.
Voxel founders Troy Carlson, Anurag Kanungu, Harishma Dayanidhi and Alex Senimar.
Sinemar told TechCrunch that despite advances in artificial intelligence and computer vision, the technology has remained largely untapped when it comes to safety in the workplace. Voxel was created to identify risks, risky behaviors and operational deficiencies.
Most companies still rely on manual supervision, spot checks and reporting incidents after the fact, Senimar said. But these processes often ignore near misses and don’t help companies come up with real-time solutions. Voxel automates the process and, rather than just monitoring, has video-based training and analytics health teams that can use to implement changes. Voxel has an ethics policy which means that it does not use facial recognition or identify individuals in its systems. Face blurring is also available upon request, and if no safety hazard is identified, captured footage will be discarded.
Voxel’s target customers include Fortune 500 companies in high-risk sectors such as warehousing, retail, manufacturing and energy.
After implementing Voxel, Sinemare said Americold (the world’s largest cold storage company) saw a 77% reduction in infections, resulting in a $1.1 million savings. Voxel has helped identify and reduce risk factors such as forklift speed, speed at the end of lanes, blind spots and drivable blocked areas. He was also able to detect behaviors that could lead to injuries such as improper ergonomics and unsafe lifting positions.
Senimar said Voxel’s plans include expanding into more industries, especially those that have not traditionally used AI for safety. It also plans to integrate more predictive analytics to anticipate potential risks, and expand into markets outside of North America.
“We have seen firsthand the impact of Voxel technology on workers and workplaces, and we are excited to continue paving the way for future workplace safety with the Voxel team,” said Michaela Bomhak, CEO of Rite-Hite.