BlackBerry Ivy Innovation Fund put up capital to advance cost savings in vehicular maintenance.

Software and cybersecurity technology provider BlackBerry co-led a €5.5m ($5.8m) series A round for Germany-based predictive automotive maintenance technology developer Compredict as car manufacturers eye the predictive maintenance market to help them reduce costs. BlackBerry made its contribution through the $50m BlackBerry Ivy Innovation Fund, which invests on behalf of BlackBerry Ivy – itself a joint venture between the corporate and cloud technology provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) dedicated to making cars more connected. Compredict uses virtual sensors to assess the status and lifespan of wearable and non-wearable vehicle components such as brakes, tyres, suspension and chassis. Having visibility into the maintenance needs of vehicle components would allow users to schedule what would previously be unscheduled maintenance work, thereby saving costs. The sensor technology is set to be integrated into the Ivy platform, which serves as a template through which software tools can be put across to multiple car manufacturers. The timeline for the implementation is not yet clear. Mobility-focused venture capital firm Vektor Partners also co-led the round, which also included unnamed existing investors. As with all investments made by the BlackBerry Ivy Innovation Fund, Compredict will also receive credits to use with AWS Activate, a programme designed to help startups and entrepreneurs get started on AWS, on top of the investment itself. Vito Giallorenzo, senior vice-president of corporate development and chief operating officer for IoT at BlackBerry, told Global Corporate Venturing: “As we heard from several of our automaker customers, digital diagnostic and predictive maintenance are priority use cases for monetising vehicle sensor data using machine learning. “By gaining insights on expensive and critical vehicle components, automakers, vehicle owners and fleet managers can generate significant cost savings and improve their vehicle’s utilisation; and they can do all of this by just using virtual software sensors and without the need of additional hardware components.” Be sure to catch the in-depth conversation about the BlackBerry Ivy Innovation Fund with Vito Giallorenzo of BlackBerry on the Global Venturing Review podcast. Photo courtesy of Compredict.

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Fernando Moncada Rivera

Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.