German startup co-founded by Romanian raises USD 33 mln, draws Alibaba as investor

KONUX, a Munich-based AI startup that provides smart sensor systems and AI-based analytics to railway companies, has raised a further USD 13 million in an extension of its Series B financing round, announced in April 2018, bringing the total amount raised in this financing round since last year to USD 33 million. The Series B round includes lead investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Upbeat Ventures, MIG AG and new investor Alibaba Group, the company announced.

KONUX was co-founded in 2014 by Germans Andreas Kunze and Dennis Humhal, and Romanian Vlad Lata (photo left), who is also the chief technical officer (CTO). The company combines smart sensors and AI-based analytics to enable higher train punctuality and network capacity through predictive maintenance planning and optimized utilization of railroads.

The company has engineering centers in Munich and Cluj-Napoca (Romania). The Romanian engineering team takes care of backend, DevOps and QA, according to a presentation on the company’s website.

“With the new investments, adding to the USD 20 million we raised ten months ago, we have an even stronger financial position to expand our product portfolio development and accelerate our international market expansion, including expansion into China. China is the world’s largest and fastest growing railway market and thus crucial for us. We are also delighted with the continued support of our existing investors as we implement our strategy to build a world-class AI company out of Europe,” said KONUX co-founder and CEO Andreas Kunze.

Since its foundation in 2014, KONUX has raised more than USD 50 million and was selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the world’s 30 most innovative start-ups and scale-ups worldwide.

(Photo source: Andreas Kunze on Facebook)