GuardHat developed a smart hard hat that monitors worker safety at industrial settings
Detroit-based industrial internet of things startup GuardHat said that it has raised a $20 million Series A funding round.
The investment was led by RTP Ventures, with participation from 3M Ventures, Caterpillar Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, and Detroit Venture Partners.
GuardHat, which has developed a smart hard hat that monitors worker safety and health in industrial settings, said that the new funding will allow the company to focus on its growth strategy, while expanding its international reach.
“We launched Guardhat with the mission of revolutionizing the industry standard for workforce safety and connectivity,” said Saikat Dey, CEO of Guardhat. He added that the company’s investors “[bring] a wealth of experience that allows us to focus on developing technology to better protect the millions of industrial workers who are the backbone of today’s global infrastructure.”
“Whether we are developing our own products or building relationships with other best-in-class providers like GuardHat, Caterpillar is always on the lookout for new ways to help our customers improve the safety of their operations,” said Jim Hawkins, Caterpillar’s MineStar solutions director. “The solutions being developed by GuardHat have the potential to prevent work-related incidents in the hazardous conditions in which many of our customers work. Our investment in these solutions aligns with our long tradition of promoting safe work environments both for our employees and for our customers.”
Guardhat, started in 2014, holds eight patents on connected-worker, real-time location systems and wearable solutions. The company has raised a total of $24 million in funding to date and has employees worldwide including its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan and satellite offices in Boulder, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Bangalore, India; and Paris, France.
GuardHat’s offering combines wearable technology with proprietary software to proactively alert industrial workers of potential workplace hazards by actively monitoring their health and environment, according to the company.
The solution features several capabilities including fall detection, remote guidance and a lockout zone alert, as well as preventing workers from moving certain objects at job sites.
