AISR Alumni Persival Secures Seed Financing from BMH and Business Angels
Wiesbaden/Darmstadt, 11. December 2024 – The deep tech start-up Persival, a pioneer in the field of sensor simulations for autonomous driving components, receives seed financing from BMH (BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH) as lead investor and a number of well-known business angels. The capital will be used to implement the growth strategy and expand the software portfolio. The business angels include experienced industry experts and successful founders such as Marius Dupuis (formerly VIRES Simulationstechnologie), Robin Schubert, Eric Richter and Holger Löbel (formerly Baselabs) as well as David Kelm and Yannic Ambach (formerly IT-Seal).
Revolutionary Sensor Simulation Technology for Autonomous Driving
Persival’s unique selling point is that it complements model development with its own data analysis and validation software, based on many years of research and measurement solutions for material and sensor properties. This ensures that the simulated data reliably reproduces realistic conditions such as wet roads or poor visibility. A major German OEM was one of the first customers and today numerous leading OEMs and suppliers rely on the start-up’s solutions.
Synthetic Sensor Data: Bridging the Gap Between Testing and Reality
The company focuses on the simulation of sensor data, which is intended to represent the real environment – for example in road traffic – as accurately as possible. Customers can use these simulation models to carry out safety-relevant tests, e.g. object recognition of vehicles in different weather conditions. The synthetic sensor data is therefore used in the development and testing of assisted and autonomous driving functions, primarily in the automotive industry, but also in other areas such as agriculture, rail transport and robotics. The sensor models supplement and replace expensive data collection on test sites and in real road traffic.
Growing Team and Expertise: 14 Specialists Driving Innovation
Persival GmbH was founded in 2021 as a spin-off of the Technical University of Darmstadt by Dr. Philipp Rosenberger and Dr. Clemens Linnhoff. The team now comprises 14 highly qualified employees – including five with doctorates – from the fields of programming, physics, 3D design and engineering. Persival plans to use the fresh capital to expand its software licensing business and further develop its solutions in the areas of reflection properties, radar simulation and model validation.
Fresh Capital and Valuable Know-How
Dr. Philipp Rosenberger, founder and CEO of Persival, explains: “We are very pleased with this successful financing round, which not only brings us capital, but also valuable know-how and experience. With BMH and the business angels, we have gained strong partners who will support us in building a scalable business model. Our goal is to turn synthetic sensor data into a realistic development and testing tool – and thus make the development of automated vehicles more efficient and cost-effective.”
Christoph Wolf, from BMH, adds: “The expertise of the founders and Persival’s innovative technology convinced us right from the start. In view of the growing demand for automated systems, the need for reliable sensor models and their validation is also increasing. The large number of critical scenarios that will have to be tested in the future is simply no longer manageable without such simulation models. Persival has enormous potential here and we look forward to accompanying the team on this promising path.”
Another Successful Alumni of the AI Startup Rising Accelerator Program
Persival was one of the selected participants in the RISING 2023/2024 accelerator program. Every year, only five outstanding AI start-ups have the chance to be included in the final selection of the renowned accelerator from AI Startup Rising | hessian.AI. The application deadline for the next round is January 5. Apply now:
About BMH
BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH, based in Wiesbaden, was founded in 2001 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba). Through Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen (WIBank), BMH is actively involved in business development in the state of Hesse. As a medium-sized investment and venture capital company, BMH bundles public investment interests and financing instruments for early-stage, growth and medium-sized companies in Hesse. BMH currently manages six investment funds with a volume of over 200 million euros. Since its foundation, BMH has invested in more than 500 companies. Investment focus areas include the software/analytics, fintech/insuretech, life science, deep tech, IoT/industrial tech, hardware/industrial goods and cleantech sectors.
More information about BMH and its funds: www.bmh-hessen.de
photo: the founders of Persival Dr. Philipp Rosenberger and Dr. Clemens Linnhoff
