Camero "through-wall vision" technology earns $14 million in funding
Israeli company sells $1 milliion in product in only four months of prototype sales; RF signals generate 3D images from behind concrete, wood, and cement; military forces snatch up available models, but company sees a large market among emergency responders; smaller model for search and rescue in development
Seeing is believing. So believe the investors who have poured an additional $14 million into Netanya, Israel-based Camero, a company best known for developing a device that helps emergency responders (as well as military forces) see through walls. The company’s existing investors — Alta Berkeley Venture Partner, Jerusalem Global Ventures (JGV), Motorola Ventures, and Walden Israel — joined Greylock Partners in this second round of financing, which brings the total raised by the plucky company to $20 million. No doubt the investors were impressed by the company’s ability to clock $1 million in sales just four months after launching a prototype. These sales were to special forces units in several unnamed countries.
According to CEO Aharon Aharon, the Xaver 800 provides “through-wall vision,” allowing responders to reliably observe one or more people in a room and continuously monitor their activities while positioned outside the room’s walls. Technical details are unsurprisingly proprietary and thus unknown to us, but it is enough to say that the clever technology relies on 3D image reconstruction algorithms used in conjunction with sophisticated signal processing techniques. FCC compliant UWB RF signals are used to generate 3D images of objects concealed by solid barriers such as walls, made from a variety of known materials including cement, plaster, brick, concrete and wood.
What are the company’s business plans now that it has proven the concept and bolstered its bank account? “Camero’s products tie together many technologies from different fields to create a one-of-a-kind product,” said CEO Aharon Aharon. “Our target markets are governments. Unlike other Israeli start-ups, we also have a market in Israel. We’ve opened an office in Washington, and we plan to bring the technology to the production stage and strengthen our sales, product development and marketing activity in Israel and the US.” Even more important for our purposes, Camero is also developing a smaller version of the same technology exclusively for search and rescue units.
-read more in Batya Feldman’s Globes report
