Lidwave secures $10 million Seed funding for 4D LiDAR-on-chip technology
The Israeli startup’s 4D coherent sensor-on-chip, powered by its Finite Coherent Ranging technology, allows Lidwave to integrate key components onto a single chip by treating light as a wave, rather than using traditional photon counting.
Lidwave, which develops 4D-LiDAR-on-chip sensors, announced that it secured a $10 million Seed funding round led by Jumpspeed Ventures and Next Gear Ventures with strategic investment from a leading Swedish truck manufacturer. Lidwave’s Seed round also saw participation from additional investors, including Sapir Venture Partners, OurCrowd, Teramips Technologies, Beyond-Electronics, Howard Morgan (MFCIF), and the Israel Innovation Authority (non-dilutive).
Full list of Israeli high-tech funding rounds in 2024
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Jerusalem, Lidwave is led by CEO Yehuda Vidal, and co-founded by Yossi Kabessa (CTO) and Uri Weiss (Chief Scientist).
While the likes of Mobileye has recently shut down its lidar sensor development division, LiDARs remain essential for autonomous machines across various fields. However, its full potential remains untapped due to high costs, complexity, and reliability issues. Legacy LiDAR systems are complicated, comprising dozens of elements including arrays of lasers, detectors, and optical components, assembled through a complex and costly process. This results in high-end LiDAR units costing thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) of dollars, limiting widespread adoption across industries ranging from automotive, transportation, traffic management, industrial automation, ports to railways. Lidwave addresses these challenges with its System-on-Chip LiDAR designed for the mass market.
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Lidwave’s proprietary Finite Coherent Ranging technology integrates all critical components onto a single chip, simplifying production and drastically reducing costs. By combining lasers, amplifiers, receivers, and optical routing onto one chip, Lidwave not only reduces production costs but also makes this powerful technology more accessible and reliable for a wide range of industries.
"This investment marks a significant milestone for Lidwave, propelling us closer to our goal of revolutionizing machine vision," said Yehuda Vidal, Lidwave's CEO and Co-founder. "Our 4D LiDAR chip not only sets a new standard for sensor performance but also makes advanced perception technology accessible to the mass market."
