StradVision Joins South Korea's K-Unicorn Project, a Tech Industry Investment Program for Fast-Growing Startups

Pioneer in AI-based camera perception software chosen as one of 15 "pre-unicorns" that qualify for government support

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Jul 29, 2020, 09:00 ET

SEOUL, South Korea, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- StradVision, whose AI-based camera perception software is a leading innovator in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles, has been selected by South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups as one of 15 preliminary unicorns – dubbed "pre-unicorns" – in a competition for promising new tech companies.

In January, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups launched the "K-Unicorn Project" to provide government support to a wide range of domestic tech startups, with applicants applying as either a "baby unicorn" or "pre-unicorn."

"Baby unicorns" are defined as companies less than seven years old with between US$2 million and US$10 million in investment, with 40 finalists chosen from 254 applicants for US$300,000 in support funding. A smaller group of 15 more seasoned "pre-unicorns," such as StradVision, were chosen from 66 applicants and guaranteed up to US$10 million in government assistance.

Applicants were reviewed by both a professional review team and a public review team, which considered factors including growth potential, innovation and track record. All aspire to one day become a bonafide "unicorn," or an unlisted tech company valued at more than US$1 billion.

"Through this selection of preliminary unicorns by South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups, we will be reborn as a true unicorn company by applying SVNet – which is made with pure domestic technology – to self-driving cars around the world," said Junhwan Kim, CEO of StradVision.

StradVision's pioneering SVNet software allows for ADAS and autonomous vehicles to detect and identify objects accurately, such as other vehicles, lanes, pedestrians, animals, free space, traffic signs, and lights, even in harsh weather conditions or poor lighting.

Compared with competitors, SVNet is compact, requires dramatically less memory capacity to run, and consumes less electricity. It can also be customized for any hardware system thanks to StradVision's patented and cutting-edge Deep Neural Network enabled software.

To achieve surround vision, SVNet's camera and deep learning-based capabilities work seamlessly with other sensors such as LiDAR and RADAR to process collected road data with high speed and accuracy.

StradVision's software has obtained China's Guobiao certification and the coveted ASPICE CL2 (Automotive Software Performance Improvement and Capability Determination Containment Level 2) certification. It is being deployed in 9 million vehicles – such as SUVs, sedans, trucks and self-driving buses – worldwide in partnership with five of the world's top auto OEMs. StradVision's global partners also include NVIDIA, Hyundai, LG Electronics, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Toshiba.

About StradVision
Founded in 2014, StradVision is an automotive industry pioneer in AI-based vision processing technology for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). The company is accelerating the advent of fully autonomous vehicles by making ADAS features available at a fraction of the market cost compared with competitors. StradVision's software is being deployed on 9 million vehicles worldwide and is serviced by their over 120 employees in Seoul, San Jose, Tokyo, and Munich. The company received the 2020 Autonomous Vehicle Technology ACES Award in Autonomy (Software Category).

SOURCE StradVision