City Detect, a company that uses vision AI to help local governments monitor the health of buildings and neighborhoods, announced a $13 million Series A funding round on Friday. The investment was led by Prudence Venture Capital.
The startup launched in 2021. Gavin Baum-Blake, the remaining co-founder, serves as CEO. He explained the company was founded partly because cities were struggling to manage urban blight and decay. The idea was to use advanced computer vision and AI technology to help cities track and fix these kinds of problems.
City Detect mounts cameras on public vehicles like garbage trucks and street sweepers. These cameras capture photos of surrounding buildings as the vehicles pass by. The company then uses computer vision to analyze the images. It is essentially a system like Google Maps Street View, but focused on ensuring buildings are up to code.
The problems identified can include graffiti, illegal dumping, or litter on the side of the road. City Detect then works with local governments to fix the issues. This process usually involves local officials sending a crew out to clean everything up.
Currently, tracking dilapidated buildings is a very manual process. Baum-Blake considers his competition to be the status quo. He noted that humans tasked with keeping track of decaying buildings might handle 50 per week, whereas City Detect’s system can do thousands per week.
The patented product includes essential features such as automatically blurring faces and license plates for privacy. It also has the ability to distinguish between street art and vandalism. The technology additionally helps governments track whether landlords are properly maintaining their buildings.
The system can identify structural roof issues or damage from storms. City Detect is currently active in at least 17 cities and works with local governments in places like Dallas and Miami.
To date, the company has raised $15 million in total funding. It is a member of the GovAI Coalition, is SOC 2 Type II compliant for independently certified privacy standards, and follows its own responsible AI policy.
Baum-Blake stated they published their Responsible AI policy in response to a consortium of local governments seeking clarity on vendor commitments. The policy was created so local government partners would know what to expect.
The new funding will be used to hire more engineers and advance some of the storm-damage detection technology. The company also aims to expand its services throughout the United States.
Baum-Blake reported seeing huge efficiency gains in the departments they work with. They are seeing more instances of blight being solved without anyone receiving a citation, and issues like tires, litter, and illegal dumping are being abated and detected quicker. He said it is exciting to see technology-forward municipalities lean into predictive AI like City Detect’s models.
Other participants in the funding round included Zeal Capital Partners, Knoll Ventures, and Las Olas Venture Capital.