India SaaS player Detect Technologies closes $28m Series B

The round – which comprised primary and secondary shares – was led by Prosus Ventures. Several existing investors re-upped, including Accel Partners, Elevation Capital, Shell Ventures, Bharat Innovation Fund, and Bluehill Capital.

Founded in 2016, Detect secured USD 3.3m in Series A funding from Elevation, Bharat Innovation Fund, Bluehill, and Axilor Ventures in 2018. All four returned in June 2021 for a USD 12m round led by Accel. There was also debt funding from Stride Ventures.

The company has created a library of AI applications that mine out actionable insights from structured and unstructured data. These can be used to maximise industrial efficiency and improve safety and security by improving workplace safety, monitoring processes effectively, increasing visibility of external risks, and improving productivity.

Detect breaks down risks into three broad categories: asset, people, and processes. A machine-learning-enabled platform is used to address asset risk by avoiding unplanned downtime, maintaining asset integrity, and mitigating damage. Other platforms are designed to maximise plant and project efficiency, secure remote facilities, and monitor equipment performance.

There are currently approximately 130 staff working on more than 50 projects from offices in Chennai, Mumbai, and Singapore. The Series B proceeds will be used to strengthen sales and operations in North America – from a new base in Houston – and Europe. ExxonMobil is an existing customer, alongside domestic players such as Reliance Industries, Nayara Energy, and Tata Steel.

"Frontline worker safety and asset productivity are massive unsolved global problems, with significant financial and ESG-related [environment, social, and governance] implications,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments in India at Prosus, in a statement.

“Detect has done a phenomenal job in building a machine learning-based, plug-and-play cloud solution to automate the detection of safety violations on a near real-time basis, which is reflected in their market leadership, quality of logos and the recent as well as expected scale up in the business.”

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Early-stage
• India
• Prosus Ventures
• Elevation Capital
• Accel Partners