Aiming to make workplaces safer for deskless workers, Stockholm and Berlin-based AI startup Buddywise has just bagged €1.2 million. The startup is using tech to solve a growing issue in the industry and now plans to ramp up commercial expansion.
For the billions of deskless workers around the world, there is a common concern – keeping safe at work. By not sitting at a desk all day, these workers find themselves in different scenarios that can result in injury or illness. It’s reported that every day over 6000 people die in workplace accidents or as a result of work-related illness, and every year about 340 million serious workplace accidents occur. Clearly, there is a need to create solutions to this and keep people safe while at work.
There are, of course, existing health and safety mechanisms and processes in place around the world to give companies early indicators before a serious accident or fatality occurs. However, today many companies have significant challenges in collecting and making use of this information, namely for two reasons: low quality and quantity of risk observations due to manual reporting, and, too infrequent inspections due to cost and time consumption.
This is what Stockholm-headquartered startup Buddywise wants to address. By using AI analysis of CCTV streaming, the startup is able to identify and address early indicators of safety risks more effectively.
New funding
Today, the startup has announced that it has picked up fresh investment to scale its product. In a €1.2 million pre-seed round, Buddywise has attracted capital from investors such as Aligned Ventures, Hans Stråberg (Chair of Atlas Copco & SKF), Hans-Olov Blom (CEO at Ramudden) and Antler.
The funding will help the company to accelerate its commercial expansion, product development, and recruitment of top talents in sales and engineering.
Putting safety first
Founded in 2020 by Lamin Faye and Yiğit Can Arin, Buddywise is addressing a problem that impacts people’s lives and costs the global economy trillions every year. Frontline workers, particularly in the industry, construction and warehouse sectors, face safety concerns every day. Buddywise was developed to mitigate this as much as possible.
Lamin Faye explained: “As an employer, you have a legal responsibility for worker safety. In my experience, everyone from operational managers to board members takes this very seriously. More importantly, no worker thinks their job is worth being seriously injured or risking their lives for. But very few advances in digital technology benefit deskless workers as many existing solutions require a screen or sensor for each person.”
Via CCTV cameras and AI analysis of the video stream, Buddywise can continuously detect and report workplace risks 24/7. The system is compatible with 90% of cameras on the market, and the customer can easily use the existing camera infrastructure. The product enables proactive safety management through analysis of trends, reporting, and follow-up measures. As the data collection takes place in real time, they are also able to automate emergency measures such as SMS and siren alarms if, for example, a person is injured.
Lamin added: “The great thing with our solution is that customers can quickly introduce our risk monitoring with a few cameras as the only sensor, making it easy and economical in industrial environments. Giving you a 24/7 safety manager that’s providing you with automated insights and analytics and real-time alerts. Almost all workplace accidents could have been prevented if only someone saw, said, and did something. Our product gives customers a real chance at achieving a zero vision for accidents. We want this to become as natural as wearing a seat belt.”
Since its inception, the company has been focusing on building its AI system and has worked closely with a few selected partners. It is finalizing an extensive pilot with one of the biggest industrial players in the Nordics and is planning to roll out in more factories in the near future. Clearly, the innovators have tapped into an important market and look to be in a strong position.
Hans Stråberg: “Safety is the highest priority for all industrial companies, and significant investments are made in this area. I believe that the Buddywise team and product have a unique opportunity to change our ability to effectively prevent accidents with the help of their AI-based safety system.”
