CPE News (8/27/2020) – Acerta Analytics Solutions Inc. has announced the closing of US $7 million Series A financing led by existing investor OMERS Ventures with participation of from M12 – Microsoft’s venture fund, StandUp Ventures, Radical Ventures, EDC and Techstars.
OMERS Ventures previously led a US $1.625 million seed round in July 2017.
Founded by CEO Greta Cutulenco, CTO Jean-Christophe Petkovich, and CSO and Professor at the University of Waterloo Dr. Sebastian Fischmeister, Kitchener, Ontario based Acerta is transforming quality control by leveraging artificial intelligence to help automakers get complex products to market faster and with fewer defects.
Acerta’s machine learning models are forged from industry experience and driven by data, enabling Acerta’s clients to locate the earliest indicators of future product failures.
Acerta currently operates in Canada and the United States in North America, as well as Europe and Japan, with plans to expand further into the European and Japanese markets within the next year.
New funding will help Acerta ramp up sales and marketing operations while also scaling the business with the goal of getting the company’s platform into the hands of automakers everywhere.
photo credit: Acerta Analytics Solutions
News Release
Acerta Analytics Closes USD $7 Million in Series A Funding to Help Automakers Capture Value from Vehicle and Production Data
OMERS Ventures leads round to meet accelerating demand for Acerta’s Automotive Intelligence platforms amid increased need for efficiency and cost containment.
KITCHENER, Ontario – SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 – Acerta Analytics, the industry leader in Automotive Intelligence, today announced it has raised USD $7 million (CAD $9 million) in Series A funding led by OMERS Ventures, with additional participation from M12 – Microsoft’s venture fund, StandUp Ventures, Radical Ventures, EDC and Techstars. The funding will enable Acerta to launch into new markets, expand its team, and extend the capabilities of its platform to generate insights into automotive production and vehicle data.
Today, automotive manufacturers face increasing complexity as vehicles become more connected and instrumented, generating massive amounts of data. In fact, Acerta estimates that connected vehicles generated approximately 94 petabytes (PB) of data in 2019, while automotive manufacturing generated nearly ten times that amount. As this immense volume of vehicle data increases, automotive engineers require new tools to manage and extract information from it. Acerta’s platform uses artificial intelligence to help automakers leverage their data for insights into vehicle assembly or on-road performance.
“Every automotive engineer has dealt with issues during assembly or testing, but few have the ability to use their production data to predict when and where those issues will occur and prevent them,” said Greta Cutulenco, CEO and Co-Founder of Acerta. “That’s why we’ve focused on providing predictive analytics to our customers to help them ensure vehicle quality, safety, and reliability.”
These improvements are now even more important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Closures of assembly plants and disruptions in the supply chain have placed new pressures on automakers to digitize their processes, find new ways to reduce costs, and increase production efficiency. As a result, Acerta has experienced an increase in demand for its solutions.
“Beyond digitization, the global pandemic has also forced vehicle manufacturers to focus on cost containment,” Cutulenco continued. “By identifying the earliest indicators of future product failures, our platforms are helping automakers reduce their scrap and rework rates and increase first time yield.”
“Artificial intelligence has already played a huge role in stimulating innovation in the automotive industry, and it will continue to do so for many years to come,” said Brian Kobus, Partner, OMERS Ventures. “We’ve entered a new phase in the world of transportation, and Acerta is in a unique position to empower automakers around the world by enabling them to harness the power of their data to deliver valuable insights, drive ROI, and ultimately make better decisions for their business and customers.”
Acerta currently operates in Canada and the United States in North America, as well as Europe and Japan, with plans to expand further into the European and Japanese markets within the next year. This new funding round will also help Acerta ramp up sales and marketing operations while also scaling the business with the goal of getting the company’s platform into the hands of automakers everywhere.
To learn more about Acerta Analytics and its mission, visit the company’s website.
About Acerta
Acerta is transforming automotive quality by leveraging assembly and vehicle data to detect the earliest indicators of future product failures. Accelerate root cause analysis, enhance end of line testing, and augment vehicle maintenance with artificial intelligence purpose-built for the auto industry. We give automotive engineers the tools to optimize quality, safety, and reliability throughout the entire product life cycle, from the assembly line to the finish line.
For more information, visit us at Acerta.ca or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About OMERS and OMERS Ventures
Founded in 1962, OMERS is one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans, with CAD$109 billion in net assets as at December 31, 2019. OMERS is a jointly-sponsored pension plan, with 1,000 participating employers ranging from large cities to local agencies, and over half a million active, deferred and retired members. OMERS members include union and non-union employees of municipalities, school boards, local boards, transit systems, electrical utilities, emergency services and children’s aid societies across Ontario. Contributions to the Plan are funded equally by members and employers. OMERS teams work in Toronto, London, New York, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Singapore, Sydney and other major cities across North America and Europe – serving members and employers and originating and managing a diversified portfolio of high-quality investments in public markets, private equity, infrastructure and real estate.
OMERS Ventures currently manages CAD$2 billion and has made more than 50 investments in disruptive technology companies across North America and Europe. www.omersventures.com.
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