17 million euros in seed financing for the Berlin startup MotorAI
Almost six years after its founding, the founders of MotorAI have now completed their first official external financing round.
The Berlin-based startup MotorAI, which specializes in software for autonomous driving , has closed a seed financing round of 17 million euros (20 million dollars).
The round was led by Segenia Capital and eCAPITAL, supported by several wealthy private investors from Germany.
With the fresh capital, MotorAI plans to advance the approval of its Level 4 autonomy technology and accelerate its market launch on public roads in Germany.
The software is already being used in test vehicles in German municipalities, albeit with a safety driver. The startup says the vehicles will be fully autonomous by 2026.
MotorAI pursues a transparent approach that is different from the data-intensive "black box" systems of other providers: MotorAI's vehicles use technology based on findings from neuroscience.
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According to MotorAI, this allows them to make decisions that are clear and understandable. This allows the company to particularly well meet the strict security and compliance requirements in Germany and Europe.
“Our solution meets key requirements for transparency and traceability as required by European authorities,” says Roy Uhlmann, CEO and co-founder of MotorAI .
According to Michael Janßen, General Partner at Segenia Capital, MotorAI's technology is particularly tailored to the European regulatory environment and thus clearly stands out from international competitors.
Since its founding in 2017, MotorAI has been developing its entire technology platform in Berlin and working closely with regulatory authorities. Final type approval according to European and German regulations is planned for 2026.
Roy Uhlmann and Adam Bahlke are behind the autonomous driving startup. The founders self-financed the first two years and then joined the impact accelerator in 2019. Today, they say they employ over 40 people.
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Uhlmann holds a degree in business administration and began his career as COO at the AI search engine Qimaya, before moving to the same position at the semantic application developer Dr. Holthausen GmbH and then assuming the CEO role at Beautiful Group. In the last few years before founding the company, he worked as AI coordinator at the startup association.
Bahlke studied entrepreneurship and worked as a software developer until founding MotorAI – as well as at the American teacher platform Better Lesson, the startup incubator Hit Fox, and as a freelancer.
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