SixAI to invest $40 million to help commercialize IAI’s military technology

Israel Aerospace Industries and Israeli startup SixAI, founded by entrepreneur Ran Poliakine, founder of Nanox Imaging, have partnered together on commercializing the defense company’s technologies, and adapting them to current civilian market needs. As part of the agreement, SixAI will invest $40 million in the venture, and IAI will grant it permission to use its own in-house developed technologies as well as its laboratory services and experimental facilities.

As revealed previously by Calcalist, IAI’s board of directors and the Israeli Government Companies Authority approved the establishment of the fund two years ago, and an even larger fund of $100-$200 million at a later date.

During the first phase, the partnership's operations will focus on making certain military technologies commercially available in several areas: green energy, including technologies developed for energy production, utilization and storage; Industry 4.0; including optimizing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, the automation of production lines, deployments of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for enhanced automation, automated monitoring and control, and manufacturing intelligent machines for humanless problem-solving; and lastly, monitoring and managing low-altitude commercial drones, including command and control over commercial platforms in an urban environment, as well as providing operators with training and instruction.

SixAI specializes in developing and commercializing advanced technologies that combine advanced optics, edge computing and artificial intelligence. The company has two subsidiaries, one focused on developing autonomous visual quality control inspection systems in production lines and another one focused on developing autonomous driving technologies for industrial Autonomous Mobile Robots used in manufacturing floors and logistics centers.

"We are excited to form this partnership with SixAI,” Boaz Levy, IAI’s President and CEO said. “This collaboration is part of IAI’s new strategic roadmap of leveraging technologies and R&D capabilities to create dual-use technologies for commercial implementation. IAI's military technologies have contributed significantly to the security of the State of Israel, but have also been a source of technology diffusion that has benefited the civilian market, as seen in recent deployments in the fields of agriculture, mining, cybersecurity, and medicine."

"SixAI's partnership with IAI will help project Israeli technological know-how beyond military and homeland security,” said Ran Poliakine, founder and Board Member of SixAI. “Converting existing IAI dual-use technologies will enable us to introduce game-changing solutions that could potentially solve pressing global challenges such as humanitarian issues, traditional industrial employment, and the climate crisis."