IVEX Raises €5 Million to Accelerate AI-Powered Automotive Safety Testing

Belgian DeepTech startup IVEX, has raised €5 million in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its AI-powered automotive safety testing technology and expand into major international markets, particularly North America and Asia.

The company is focused on making vehicle safety testing faster, more scalable and more data-driven. Its technology helps automotive manufacturers and testing organisations analyse large volumes of driving, camera, sensor and vehicle data while keeping engineers involved in the final assessment.

Funding Backed by Existing Investors

The €5 million Series A round was backed by IVEX's existing investors, including The Faktory and Dedicated.lu, along with private investors.

The company has also strengthened its board with several experienced industry leaders. New board members include Jan Leuridan, former CEO of Siemens Industry Software NV; Omar Mohout, Director at Deloitte; and Simon Alexandre, Partner at The Faktory.

IVEX co-founder Quentin de Clercq, who now leads AI strategy at ASML in the United States, has also joined the board alongside IVEX co-founder and CEO Mario Torres.

Founded at KU Leuven to Make Vehicle Testing Smarter

IVEX was founded in 2018 as a spin-out from KU Leuven with a clear mission: to help the automotive industry build safer vehicles.

The company develops technology for the analysis, validation, testing and safety scoring of vehicles, with a particular focus on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD) technologies.

As vehicles become increasingly sophisticated, safety testing generates enormous amounts of data. Engineers need to analyse camera footage, sensor information, vehicle behaviour, road conditions, traffic signs and dashboard information to determine whether a vehicle has responded correctly.

Traditionally, much of this work has involved repetitive manual analysis. IVEX believes that approach becomes increasingly difficult to scale as autonomous and assisted-driving technologies become more complex.

Using AI to Automate Automotive Safety Testing

IVEX combines computer vision, artificial intelligence and cloud-based data processing to automate some of the most time-consuming elements of on-road vehicle testing.

The platform can analyse a vehicle's surroundings while simultaneously interpreting different sources of information. For example, it can identify speed limits and road signs, read information displayed to the driver, and compare multiple signals to determine whether the vehicle responded according to the relevant safety requirements.

Importantly, IVEX follows a human-in-the-loop approach. Engineers remain in control and can review the system's analysis before making the final safety assessment.

The company says its technology can reduce the amount of engineering time required for data analysis by more than 95%. In one example highlighted by IVEX, its platform processed 400 hours of multi-sensor driving data using only eight hours of engineering time.

Building an Operating System for Automotive Safety

IVEX has ambitions that go beyond simply automating individual testing tasks.

The company's long-term vision is to create an operating system for automotive safety testing—an AI-powered platform where different safety protocols, testing requirements and vehicle functions can operate as applications.

As the platform processes data from more vehicles and driving environments, its underlying models can continue to improve. This creates a growing data foundation that can support both existing and future automotive safety-testing applications.

Strong Track Record Across Global Markets

IVEX is already a trusted technology supplier to Euro NCAP, providing technology used in official vehicle assessments.

Its platform has also been deployed in on-road testing campaigns across more than 20 countries, including markets across the European Union, the UK, Australia, Brazil and Japan.

So far, the company has accumulated more than 100,000 kilometres of driving data and worked with data from more than 50 vehicle models. IVEX also holds six patents, including one in the United States, and is ISO 27001 certified.

The company previously raised a Seed round in February 2023, backed by PMV, SPDG, The Faktory Fund, Noshaq and Dedicated.

Meet IVEX's Founders

Mario Torres — Co-Founder & CEO

Mario Torres is IVEX's co-founder and CEO and continues to lead the company as it scales its automotive safety technology globally.

Torres is focused on turning IVEX's combination of AI and mathematical algorithms into a practical platform capable of handling the growing complexity of modern vehicle testing. He has also joined the company's strengthened board and remains at the centre of its international expansion strategy.

Quentin de Clercq — Co-Founder

Quentin de Clercq is a co-founder of IVEX and now leads AI strategy at ASML in the United States.

Although he has moved into an AI leadership role at ASML, de Clercq remains closely connected to IVEX and has joined the company's board as part of its latest organisational expansion.

Expansion Into North America and Asia

The new €5 million investment will allow IVEX to strengthen its position in Europe while accelerating its expansion into North America and Asia.

The company plans to bring its AI-powered testing and data-processing technology to automotive manufacturers, testing organisations and regulators in these markets. It will also expand the number of NCAP safety protocols supported by its platform and strengthen the infrastructure needed to process larger datasets across different countries, vehicle types and testing environments.

Why IVEX's Technology Matters

The development of ADAS and autonomous driving is changing the way vehicles are designed, tested and evaluated. With more sensors, more software and increasingly complex driving functions, the amount of data generated during safety testing is growing rapidly.

IVEX's approach is designed to address this challenge by combining automation with human oversight. Instead of replacing engineers, the company aims to remove repetitive analysis from their workload and allow them to focus on higher-value safety decisions.

With €5 million in new funding, international expansion plans and technology already being used in official vehicle assessments, IVEX is positioning itself to play a larger role in the next generation of automotive safety testing.