UVeye racks up another $191 million for its vision-based ‘MRI for cars’

UVeye started as a play to scan cars for security threats, but the Israeli startup really hit its stride when its founders realized the AI-powered computer vision systems could perform more typical vehicle inspections.

Now, the company is evolving its funding strategy. UVeye announced Wednesday morning a $191 million extension to its 2023 Series D round led by Toyota’s Woven Capital growth fund. The round includes a mix of $41 million in equity financing — with participation from UMC Capital and MyBerg — and a $150 million debt facility structured by Trinity Capital.

“We’re installing at quite a lot of locations, and we’re getting a lot of data, and we’ve signed some very strategic deals in the past year, and we have, right now, more demand than we can actually support,” UVeye CEO and co-founder Amir Hever told TechCrunch in an interview. “So there’s a need to be able to fund more systems, deploy more units, and scale really, really quickly.”

The debt includes a $100 million initial commitment and an option for an additional $50 million, and will help UVeye deploy close to 700 of its inspection systems in 2025, Hever said.

The systems — which cars can drive through and use cameras to scan the undercarriage, exterior, and interior — have been popular with customers that include Amazon, CarMax (which invested in the 2023 Series D), and even car dealers and manufacturers.

Hever said working with those customers has influenced the evolution of UVeye’s tech and business model. The company was initially focused on a car’s undercarriage, since it was trying to modernize roadside security screenings. But customers started asking for the ability to inspect things like tire wear, or scan the car’s exterior for damage.

“It was kind of a step-by-step [process] to really understand the market needs, and how they are inspecting vehicles today, and how we can help them to be more efficient, to increase their revenue, to support our business,” Hever said.

Now, Hever said, UVeye is scanning nearly one million cars per month.