Hyderabad, 29 November 2018: SRI Capital, an early stage venture capital firm, today announced that it has made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount into a camera technology start-up, DreamVu. The start-up is a spinoff from the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, making it the second company that SRI Capital has backed from the institute.
Headquartered in the US and based in Hyderabad, DreamVu is the brainchild of Rajat Aggarwal and Rohan Bhatial, and it is driven by a team of computer vision, software, hardware engineers and scientists. The startup has developed a power and cost-efficient omnidirectional camera platform inspired by human binocular vision and perception. It helps in providing augmented navigation capabilities and a full scene-understanding of unconfined and dynamic environments to autonomous robots.
Jay Krishnan, Partner at SRI Capital, said, “SRI Capital is committed to backing start-ups with IP in areas that form the frontiers of new technologies. We were thrilled to see DreamVu’s solution with an optics- first approach that allows sensors and optics to disrupt value chains long powered by electronics and software. DreamVu is well positioned to transform the autonomous guided space with its product- portfolio and stellar backing through its advisers, investors and the operating team.“
“We are privileged to have partnered with a start-up born here in Hyderabad and formed by young, ingenious entrepreneurs. We are positive that the value we provide in addition to this investment will significantly accelerate DreamVu’s growth curve in new markets,” added Jay.
With this investment, DreamVu is one step closer to its mission of building next-generation sensors to enable autonomous systems like drones, robots and vehicles of the future. Unlike other cameras in the market, DreamVu’s products do not require stitching. They capture the data with minimal processing and power requirements.
“We are excited to take the next steps in fulfilling our vision of enabling futuristic capturing technologies. Our innovation in optics introduces the much-needed breakthrough to enable autonomous machines to become scalable and live up to the market demand,” commented Rajat Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder at DreamVu.
“We will use the funds to innovate further and also take our products to the early adopters as development kits. We are selling to and partnering with system integrators globally to disrupt the autonomous guided robotics landscape” said Rohan Bhatial, COO and Co-founder at DreamVu.
In the last five years, SRI Capital has invested in 36 start-ups, and it will continue to scout for innovative start-ups to fund, collaborate and support cross-border innovation between India and the U.S.
About SRI Capital:
SRI Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on funding innovative start-ups primarily in the U.S and in India. The main areas of interest for SRI Capital are enterprise technology and cross-border innovation to serve the U.S or Indian markets and Indian/U.S start-ups that aim to capitalise on the Indian consumer market. SRI Capital will be further investing in start-ups in optics, hardware, sensors and other innovation-backed areas.
It invests between USD 500,000 and USD 3,000,000 for a meaningful minority interest and leads the round. It has active investors, providing support to the founders beyond just a board role and makes selective Series A investments, either as a lead investor or as a co-investor with other VCs or strategic investors. SRI Capital has offices in Philadelphia, USA and Hyderabad, India. Please visit the website www.sricapital.com for more information.
About DreamVu:
DreamVu is an IP-intensive company focussing on 360° optical sensing technologies, ideal for multiple high-value markets. The vision of the company is to build next-generation sensors to enable autonomous systems of the future. With a wide range of applications in autonomous machines (drones, robots, and vehicles), VR/AR, and smart invasive systems, DreamVu is all set to revolutionise the way we capture reality.
DreamVu has a strong 20-member team of engineers, R&D specialists and sales personnel based in Hyderabad India. It has an advisory board with years of experience in computer vision, computational photography and related fields, which give it an advantage in entering global markets.