These AI-powered robot overlords are here to keep your warehouse workers safe(r)

Last year, Voxel raised $3 million to make warehouses safer through AI-powered security cameras. It has been busy in the background, working, and raising funds, to further develop its tech to make warehouses safer and to ramp up operations even further.

The company grew from a headcount of eight to 30 so far this year, and the fundraise will accelerate its investment in talent even further, to double down on its mission to decrease workplace injuries and workplace accidents. The company told me it has grown “at an unprecedented pace,” decreasing on-site injuries by more than 80%. The company claims it has increased operational productivity by over 20% at its initial customer sites. 

The stats caught the eye of insurance companies and health-and-safety-conscious warehouse managers alike. The company’s goal — in addition to fewer hands chopped off in rogue forklift accidents — is to transform risk management and workplace safety. The company aims “to fundamentally change how insurance companies underwrite risk” and told me it is trying to strengthen the relationship between insurers and their customers through “robust data and actionable intelligence”.

By relying on AI and edge computing, the company is trying to stay on the good side of the emerging warehouse unions and privacy concerns. It claims it is committed to privacy and security, designing its algos in a way that means they aren’t tracking personally identifiable information.

Voxel’s incident report screen. Image Credit: Voxel

“Site safety and operations are often a reactive and manual process, where security cameras are reviewed after issues occur,” said Alex Senemar, CEO of Voxel. “Voxel is the first solution to allow companies to proactively identify key behaviors that lead to costly injuries using their existing camera infrastructure.”

A $15 million Series A funding round was led by Eclipse Ventures with participation from MTech and World Innovation Labs.

This latest round of funding brings total equity raised to $18 million.

“We are at an inflection point in terms of rebuilding U.S. manufacturing, logistics and physical operations, which represent over 40% of the U.S. GDP. Voxel’s technology catalyzes tangible results and lasting change in the safety and efficiency of their customer’s operations,” said Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner at Eclipse Ventures and Voxel board member. “The Eclipse team believes Voxel’s core architecture, which takes a non-intrusive approach by leveraging existing camera infrastructure, and their cutting-edge AI applications will enable Voxel to become a category-leader in software and AI applications across a multi-trillion dollar set of physical-industry sectors.”