And the first major funding round of 2019 goes to...
Woburn, Mass.-based ClearMotion, an automotive technology startup that makes road-sensing technology, raised $115 million in a series D round led by Franklin Templeton Investments. Microsoft, Bridgestone, Qualcomm, World Innovation Lab, NewView Capital and Eileses Capital also participated in the round.
ClearMotion’s technology claims to "do for motion what noise-canceling does for noise." The company's road-sensing technology combines a software and hardware solution to sense uneven road surfaces, giving stability and safety to the riders. The company also introduced RoadMotion, a software platform that fingerprints road surfaces and stores this data in the cloud.
The company will use a portion of this funding round to expand its data science and machine learning teams. In addition, it will also focus on expanding the company's production facility, product development and hiring across its offices in the U.S.
“From tire to human, we have developed a software and hardware solution that digitizes our analog relationship to the road,” said Shakeel Avadhany, founder and CEO of ClearMotion, in a statement.
Founded in 2009, ClearMotion has over 350 patents in its active motion control portfolio and 15 pending applications across the globe. In April 2018, it teamed up with United States Seating Company. It's a company that manufactures seats for commercial and military markets that licensed ClearMotion's active-suspension seat technology, a proprietary control software with algorithms and mechatronics for active seating.
