WVV Capital, a venture capital firm founded as a joint partnership between Advocate Health, Foxconn, Johnson Controls International and Northwestern Mutual, has invested in Chicago startup Drift Net Inc.
The Series A extension will help the artificial intelligence security company, which uses visual sensors, threat sensors and thermal imaging to detect safety and health threats, expand the manufacturing and production of its KnowWhere Campus Safety System, which provides schools with real-time data on where occupants are throughout the building — vital information during a critical incident.
The new funding comes after Drift Net closed a $15.6 million Series A at the beginning of 2023.
WVV Capital was founded in 2018 by four major southeast Wisconsin employers to invest in early-stage startups, both domestic and international, working in health care, technology, manufacturing and financial services. WVV stands for Wisconn Valley Venture, referencing the nickname for Foxconn's planned Mount Pleasant campus where the Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer was to create thousands of jobs. While those plans never came to fruition, Foxconn still has operations there and is considering other uses for the land, some of which was sold to Microsoft Corp. to house data centers.
When its creation was announced, WVV Capital said it would be a $100 million VC fund with the four corporations contributing $25 million apiece. The fund's website now lists 11 companies in its portfolio and one exit, Siris Medical.
Drift Net would not disclose specifics on how much funding it received from WVV Capital, but a spokesperson with the startup said the VC firm is looking to back AI-driven startups. Drift Net uses AI for things like visitor management systems that scan IDs and run background checks to give schools the tools they need to better prepare for security threats and detect weapons in real time.
The startup built out its marketing and sales teams in 2023 and is in the process of opening a new manufacturing facility in Chicago's West Loop to increase its manufacturing efforts. Based at 70 W. Madison St., Drift Net opened its new 10,000-square-foot facility at 650 W. Lake St. last month.
Overall, the company's head count doubled in size in 2023, reaching north of 60 employees with plans to reach 150 employees by the end of 2024, expanding primarily its manufacturing, sales and software engineering teams.
Drift Net currently works with more than 40 districts and more than 150 schools, including schools in Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
While a goal of Drift Net's is to be in Chicago-area schools as well, the startup tends to follow grant funding for its marketing efforts.
For example, "Georgia previously released $50,000 to every school in the state just to upgrade their security measures," a Drift Net spokesperson told Chicago Inno, a publication affiliated with Wisconsin Inno. "Schools generally don't have a lot of disposable income, so our marketing and sales efforts are guided by those grant-funding opportunities and different bills that legislation gets passed."
He added that it will be a point of emphasis for Drift Net moving forward to get in more Chicago Public Schools and private charter schools, though their disposable income tends to be limited.
Drift Net has a cap that no school pays more than $14,000 for the KnowWhere system.
