Phantom AI brings in $36.5M

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Phantom AI, a Mountain View, California-based developer of an autonomous driving platform, announced it brought in $36.5 million in Series C funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $80.2 million since its start in 2017.

While there are many companies in the autonomous vehicle space, Phantom AI is hoping to set itself apart from others with its unique strategy. The company aims to quickly democratize autonomous driving by advancing ADAS technologies. Phantom AI’s product offerings include a computer vision system called PhantomVision, a sensor fusion called PhantomFusion, and PhantomDrive, a vehicle control system. 

Hyunggi Cho, now the CEO, and Chan Kyu Lee, now the CTO, co-founded the company. The two met while both working at Tesla. They discovered that they had an interest in the possibilities of early ADAS technology and its capacity to bring autonomous technology to market well before fully driverless cars reach the roads.

“This funding validates investor confidence in not only our mission to save lives through innovative visual perception technology but also our ability to execute on this mission,” Cho said in a release. “We’re focused on developing and expanding our product offerings, enhancing our marketing and sales efforts and accelerating our business growth with the goal to give customers the best possible multi-camera vision solutions in the market.” 

New investors participating in the round included InterVest, Shinhan GIB and Samsung Ventures. The Series C round also included existing investors KT Investment and Renaissance Asset Management. 

“This is a very exciting time for Phantom AI as customers are recognizing the critical role driver-assisted technology plays in making automobiles safer for everyone,” Jay Jinhwan Jeon of InterVest, the lead investor in this round, said in a release. “We’re thrilled to partner with Phantom AI at this time to help bring this important technology to the market.”

Phantom AI plans to use the funding to accelerate its current series production development with major OEMs. Its customers include Tier 1 automotive manufacturers that are interested in integrating lower-level autonomy systems in their vehicles that will deliver full autonomy in the future.