Revvo (formerly known as IntelliTire) is an Internet of Things (IoT) company that makes tires intelligent in order to improve the safety and performance of vehicles on the road using machine learning software and sensors. Last year, Revvo participated in the Techstars Mobility Class of 2018 (class 141) — which was managed by Ted Serbinski. And Revvo just announced it raised $4 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners. Vulcan Capital and AngelList also participated in this round.
There are dozens of companies that are focused on autonomous vehicle and self-driving technology, but very few of them are specifically focused on tires even though they are one of the most critical components of vehicle performance, reliability, and safety. And last year, over $225 billion was spent on 2.2 billion tires. Initially, Revvo will focus on the fleet sector — which is a segment consuming tires at a disproportionately high rate and sees tire usage as pain points.
“Until now, tires have not benefited from the mobility revolution. Through machine learning and AI, tires can provide an invaluable data set of road conditions, driver behavior, and feedback for vehicle performance,” said Revvo co-founder and CEO Sunjay Dodani, Ph.D. “We’re extremely excited to have the support of the Norwest team, which will help us work toward our goal of enabling smart and connected tires. Our team at Revvo is passionate about applying a data science-centric approach to bring intelligence to the only part of the vehicle that touches the ground.”
Photo Credit – Revvo
Revvo’s first-of-its-kind sensor-enabled AI software platform is able to monitor tires while on the road. And the technology includes proprietary sensors embedded inside the tire, which sets up a real-time feed of a tire’s condition and performance. And the sensors also measure environmental conditions like the road conditions and whether the tires frequently travel on ice or rain. The sensors capture thousands of data points per second from the interior of the tire and it is sent to the cloud through an app on the driver’s phone.
“We live in a world of increasingly connected and autonomous vehicles, but tires haven’t changed in decades,” added Parker Barrile of Norwest Venture Partners. “We’re excited to work with the team at Revvo to make tires as smart as the vehicles that depend on them and to tap into a massive market that is shifting toward fleets and autonomous vehicles.”
Revvo is going to use the funding to continue building its product and expand the technical and business development teams. And Revvo plans to set up insights that inform drivers how their driving behavior influences vehicle safety.
How much does it cost? Revvo will be charging about $10 per disposable sensor and it is planning to make the sensors transferrable between tires.
