Tech company raises funds for AI start-up to boost workplace safety

Unleash live, a leading AI video analytics platform, has announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by SafetyCulture. Launched in 2016 by co-founders Hanno Blankenstein and Jason Grier, Unleash live’s ‘Intelligent Remote Vision’ enables enterprises to improve productivity and safety, while reducing cost by using real-time video analytics to transform visual inspections. The company has experienced 500+% growth since March 2020, with Blankenstein predicting that this investment will enable it to reach new geographies and introduce the platform to more industries. “We’re excited to welcome the combined expertise of SafetyCulture and Roger Allen, which will drive the continued success of Unleash live and help take us to the next level,” Blankenstein said.

Unleash live will use the Series A funding to fuel the growth of its A.I. Apps Store, where developers and organisations with in-house AI/ML skills can build, train and deploy apps that meet specific enterprise needs. AI analytics are injected into livestream video to augment the role of inspectors, progress monitors, financiers, auditors and regulators. The funding will also support the expansion of its US team and help provide the quality experiences that enterprise customers expect. Roger Allen is focused on investing in Australian fast growth technology companies, and forecasts that Unleash live is on its way to becoming a big name in the Australian technology landscape. “Australian technology companies have never been more attractive to investors. We’ve seen record-breaking funding rounds in the past few months, and I am excited to join this journey,” Allen said.

Earlier this year, Unleash live reached an impressive milestone, with 25 million minutes of video analysed. The company provides analytics for a range of enterprise and government use cases, such as automating inspections for optimised performance on wind farms, to supporting public transport operators during COVID-19 with commuter, social distancing and face mask analysis. Blankenstein explained that the COVID-19 pandemic played a part in the increased adoption of video streaming and remote collaboration, with a growing number of businesses using Unleash live to overcome the challenges of maintaining distributed assets and keeping employees out of harm’s way. “Remote monitoring and machine learning assisted inspections will remain critical when the pandemic ends because so many organisations have realised there is a significant opportunity to improve how they operate. They will continue to apply these learnings and look for new ways to build them into their business,” Blankenstein said.

SafetyCulture is a global operations platform that empowers teams to drive workplace improvements. The company recently acquired microlearning business EdApp in 2020. Alongside investing in Unleash live, SafetyCulture CEO Luke Anear will join the board. Anear noted that SafetyCulture recognised the potential of leveraging camera feeds to trigger safer, smarter actions. “It’s great to see such innovative new thinking in response to old challenges. AI video analytics is an enormously powerful data source for an operations platform like ours, and one that many of our customers can benefit from. Unleash live has shown extraordinary growth during the past year. I’m eager to help them support more organisations to be better, faster and more reliable,” Anear said.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/metamorworks