01
September
2021
|
09:26 AM
America/New_York

Nationwide invests in Foretellix

A world leader in automotive safety verification, Foretellix is working to make automated driving systems as safe as possible

Automated driving assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles (AV) are becoming more commonplace on our roadways. While these vehicles offer up exciting new driving experiences, there is one question that lingers: “Just how safe are they?”

Nationwide is investing in a company that is working to ease these safety concerns. The insurance and financial services company is making a venture capital investment in Foretellix, a leading platform provider automating the testing, verification, and validation for automated driving systems (ADAS and AV) and ensuring safety. The investment is part of the Israel-based company’s
Series B funding round and comes from Nationwide's $350 million venture capital fund.

“Consumers and business fleet drivers must be confident that every time they get in or see an automated vehicle, regardless of the level of autonomy or safety assist features, they are going to arrive safely at their destination and be protected,” said Pete Frey, associate vice president of Commercial Lines Emerging Capabilities at Nationwide. “As a company that is at the forefront of automated vehicle insurance and protecting our customers now and into the future, Nationwide sees the potential of Foretellix’s platform to provide that level of safety and peace of mind to drivers and passengers.”

Foretellix was founded in 2018 by a team of verification and validation pioneers with a mission to make automated driving systems safe and efficient. Foretellix uses a quantifiable approach to safety and hyper-automation to create and test all possible scenarios these systems may encounter, along with big data analytics to ensure the safety and completeness of the testing processes. This advanced platform is used throughout the development cycle, from the requirements stage through product development, verification, and validation. Foretellix ensures safety and productivity while reducing development cost and time to-deployment.

Insurers and regulators are seeking ways to assess the degree of safety of automated driving systems developed by different suppliers. Foretellix brings a measurable safety approach that objectively assesses automated driving systems safety using comprehensive coverage reports examining the automated system’s behaviour in a massive number of different driving scenarios. As such, Foretellix’s tools and methodologies serve a critical role in ADS safety assessment.

“This additional funding round is an important milestone in our journey as a company and will help us address the growing demand for our platform and products,” says Ziv Binyamini, CEO and co-founder of Foretellix. “The support of our strategic partners including Nationwide that joined us in this round will help Foretellix to further advance its mission to enable safe deployment of advanced automated driving systems.”

Other Nationwide venture capital investment news:
Nationwide has made a third venture capital investment in Insurify virtual insurance agent and comparison platform company Insurify. In June, Nationwide announced that Insurify developed Nationwide’s Digital Brokerage Solution, on which customers have access to a tailored car insurance purchase experience, allowing them to compare car insurance quotes, coverage, and policies from Nationwide and other insurance companies at the same place. The investment is part of Insurify’s Series B $100 million fundraise.

In August, Nationwide made its second investment in Upstream Security, a company that protects the digital infrastructure of connected vehicles. The investment comes as part of Upstream’s Series C fundraise.

Nationwide’s venture capital journey
Nationwide’s venture capital investments are directed into insurance and financial services startups with high-growth potential that directly advance Nationwide’s strategy to provide even greater customer value.

 
To date, Nationwide’s venture capital team has invested in nearly 30 companies, including Extend, Beam Dental, Health Gorilla, HOVER, Indico, and Deep Sentinel. The team has also helped to facilitate more than 30 partnerships between startups and Nationwide business units.  
 
Tech startups interested in partnering with Nationwide can visit www.nationwideventures.com for more information.  

Nationwide’s Corporate Development mission
Nationwide recently aligned Corporate Development capabilities to include the venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic partnership teams. These groups look for unique collaboration opportunities that help business units meet new or developing customer needs. These collaborations are enabled by Nationwide’s best-in-class digital infrastructure, which allows Nationwide to provide a unique digital experience for partners and their customers.