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AI Road Assessment Startup RoadBotics Raises $7.5M

The Carnegie Mellon University-linked company, which raised a $3.9 million seed round at the end of last year, has pulled in more capital — and customers — as it continues on a rapid growth trajectory.

RoadBotics, a startup spun out of Carnegie Mellon University that uses AI to map the condition of roads, has raised $7.5 million in investment money.

The Series A round comes after rapid expansion for the company; according to a press release, RoadBotics has served more than 150 customers in 23 states and 11 countries since it was launched at the end of 2016.

Those customers tend to be local governments. The company’s website lists mostly small and medium-sized jurisdictions such as Sedona, Ariz., and Montgomery, Ala., as users of its technology. By mounting a smartphone on the dash of a car, a drive around town can yield video that the company then runs through computer vision software in order to find the spots most in need of repair.

The new money will help RoadBotics expand further, including into “other verticals,” according to the statement. It will be looking to develop unspecified new products as well.

"The new products we're building use data in ways not available to road managers until now," said RoadBotics Director of Engineering Miguel Dickson in the statement. "We're taking our value proposition — objective, easy-to-use, easy-to-explain automated assessment — and expanding on it. The new products we're introducing will continue to leverage AI and data science to make more road management tasks straight-forward and easily communicable to all the relevant stakeholders."

The Series A round was led by Radical Ventures and included participation from Hyperplane Venture Capital and Wharton Alumni Angels of Silicon Valley. The new funding brings the company’s total to more than $11 million after a seed round last year.

Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.