Autonomous Platform Ravin.Ai Raises $4 Million In Seed Funding
Below is our recent interview with Eliron Ekstein, Co-Founder and CEO of Ravin:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to RAVIN?
A: Ravin.AI is an autonomous platform that uses artificial intelligence to inspect the condition of vehicles. We are bringing trust and transparency wherever vehicles operate or change hands, by providing automated, objective, condition reports showing previous and new damages. Our target industries are car sharing, rental and leasing, insurance and sales. For example, we’re working with global rental companies such as Avis Budget Group, OEMs, car sharing and autonomous vehicle companies across Europe and the US. Our team are based out of London and Israel.
Q: How exactly does it work?
A: Ravin uses computer vision and machine learning to detect and analyse vehicle damage with standard cameras. There’s no need for specialised hardware. Our customers can use either a smartphone or, for customers with physical locations, we also install fixed system which have CCTV-style cameras. Our patent-pending technology then analyses the images from these camera system and provides the customer with a verified condition report, either via our own desktop or mobile applications, or directly into our customers’ software via an API or SDK. There’s no need for humans to operate the system and we don’t ask people to capture specific images, which can open the door to bias and inaccuracy.
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Q: You’ve recently raised $4m in Seed round; could you tell us something more?
A: We have some amazing investors who believe in our mission to bring trust and transparency to the mobility industry. The round was led by PICO Venture Partners, who are a world-renowned VC firm and have backed other successful companies operating in the automotive space such as Vroom. Adam Draizin, an automotive entrepreneur, participated in the round, as well as Shell Ventures which supported the venture since its early days. Shell is one of the largest companies in the world and brings enormous scale through their network and daily interactions with drivers and vehicles.
Q: Why is now the time for a technology solution like RAVIN?
A: The future of mobility is very exciting, with an increasing variety of options for consumers. We expect on-demand rental, car sharing, and autonomous vehicles to become increasingly prevalent, but they all rely on trust. Trust that when you’re sharing your vehicle, it’s going to come back in a good condition, trust that you’re not going to be charged for damage you didn’t cause, and trust in the advertised condition of a vehicle when you buy or sell a used car. Ravin enhances trust by providing objective condition reports, allowing our users to keep track of when and where damage occurs, so they can deal with it without incurring unnecessary costs and downtime.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: Our focus over the coming months will be to continue to focus on delivering value to our customers in the fleet, insurance and car sales industries. We will be working on our core technology and software applications and will be scaling into some exciting new geographies. Ultimately, we aim to become the DocuSign of vehicle condition, providing a verified, automated, vehicle condition report wherever vehicles operate or change hands.
To read the article, click here.
