ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (ZIM), along with other investors, has announced the initial closing of an $8 million financing round in vehicle monitoring platform, Spinframe.
ZIM led this investment as part of its strategy to invest in early-stage companies involved in the digitalisation of supply chains.
Spinframe develops vehicle-inspection systems based on artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and machine-learning technologies, that create “Digital Twins” for vehicles throughout the supply chain and detect anomalies from the assembly line throughout the vehicle journey to the dealership and end customer.
Spinframe’s innovative system documents vehicles and uses AI to identify defects and external damage.
The platform is capable of overseeing a large number of vehicles without human intervention in various locations, such as seaports, transportation and logistics hubs, parking lots, agencies, rental branches, and service centres.
The combination of advanced image processing, damage classification, and data cloud storage allows for immediate vehicle visualisation and status sharing at any stage, via a unified interface.
Spinframe’s monitoring platform has already been implemented at a wide range of customers within the automotive industry, including prominent automotive OEMs, car rental companies and dealerships.
The investment funds will be utilised by Spinframe to develop new and unique capabilities of Spinframe’s platform, as well as to deliver a robust pipeline to implement solutions with new customers globally.
In particular, the company aims to expand its activities throughout the vehicle maritime transport segment.
Recently, Spinframe won an Ashdod Port tender, which will now use its offering to monitor vehicle dismemberment at the port.
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Eli Glickman, ZIM President & CEO, said: “After conducting successful PoCs, we have identified the immense potential of Spinframe’s technology and its applicability to our industry.
“As part of our overall approach and strategy, we actively seek out and invest in promising young companies as growth engines.
“This investment represents another successful partnership with a startup that specialises in digital automation solutions for the benefit of our customers,” Glickman added.
This investment comes a month after ZIM launched its second and third 15,000 TEU LNG-powered vessels, adding to a series of 10 vessels joining its fleet.
More recently, ZIM ordered 1,000 Star Cool reefers with Sekstant door sensors from Maersk Container Industry (MCI).
