For too long, America’s infrastructure has been stuck in a reactive cycle—waiting until the damage is done before springing into action. At BrightAI, we’re breaking that cycle.

Today, our team is excited to launch Stateful OS, an AI-powered platform transforming how infrastructure is managed. With over 250,000 AI endpoints deployed across 25,000 sites (more sites than Starbucks stores in the U.S), we’re equipping blue-collar workforces with real-time insights to spot and address risks before they escalate. From water and power to utilities, we’re empowering teams to take a proactive stance that keeps critical systems resilient, efficient, and ready for the future.

BrightAI has deployed over 250,000 sensors and achieved $80 million in revenue—all while staying in stealth mode and without raising outside capital. Until now. Today, we’re emerging from stealth with a $15 million seed round funded entirely by Upfront Ventures.

Full press release follows below.

Press Release

BrightAI Unveils Stateful OS, a Platform Leveraging Multimodal AI to Fix America’s Pipes, Sewers and Powerlines

• The platform has over 250,000 AI endpoints deployed across 25,000+ locations, serving critical industries such as water management, energy, utilities, and manufacturing
• Team brings experience in AI, IoT and autonomous systems from brands including SmartThings, Rivian, and Meta
• Now, the company is taking on VC dollars and is announcing $15M in Series Seed funding led by Upfront Ventures, to accelerate the growth of the platform

San Francisco, California, United States – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, November 19, 2024

BrightAI, a leader in AI-driven solutions for critical infrastructure, today announced the launch of Stateful OS, its advanced AI platform designed to enhance productivity, resilience, and sustainability for infrastructure operators. The launch follows a recent seed funding round that will support BrightAI’s plans to extend the platform’s reach across key industries.

Traditional infrastructure maintenance is inefficient and reactive, relying on routine visits and manual checks to identify problems. With 50% to 80% of operations costs spent on labor and truck rolls, many organizations are forced to assess infrastructure conditions without real-time visibility into potential risks. This lack of comprehensive data leads to costly failures, such as power outages, water main breaks, and gas leaks, that could have been prevented with proactive management.

BrightAI’s Stateful OS platform offers blue-collar industries a forward-looking approach, enabling operators to move from reactive to proactive decision-making, and is purpose-built to serve industries including critical services, water, energy, transportation, construction, power, pest control, and manufacturing.

With over 250,000 active AI endpoints and 25,000 AI locations—deployed at more sites than Starbucks stores in the U.S.—Stateful OS captures exclusive, real-time data that no other system can access. This data fuels multimodal AI models that detect infrastructure flaws before they escalate into catastrophes. By allowing workers to act at the speed of machines, the platform equips them with the equivalent of 30 years of master technician experience on their first day, helping to prevent failures, reduce costs, and enhance operational resilience.

Stateful OS delivers a comprehensive set of capabilities, such as:

• Asset & Site Visibility: Real-time insights through 24/7 monitoring, diagnostics, and automated dispatch, offering continuous visibility into infrastructure conditions.
• Workforce Wearable Copilot: AI-powered field reporting and guidance, supported by a comprehensive operations knowledge graph, allowing workers to make real-time decisions in the field.
• Inspection Autonomy: Autonomous robotics & drone systems that automate complex, dangerous, and repetitive tasks, increasing both inspection frequency and accuracy while reducing risk.

A leadership team with proven expertise in AI, IoT, and automation is driving this transformation. BrightAI’s founder and CEO, Alex Hawkinson, previously founded SmartThings, an IOT platform powering over 1 billion smart home devices that was sold to Samsung in 2014. He’s built a team of industry veterans, including Kiran Bharwani, BrightAI’s Chief Technology Officer, who developed Rivian’s autonomous driving platform from inception to IPO, and executing on the $1 billion Amazon delivery EV project. The leadership team also brings experience from Meta, Microsoft, and Frontdoor.

The physical graph has always been my long term vision to digitize the physical world. SmartThings focused on connecting millions of homes, while BrightAI is focused on outside of homes, solving for our critical infrastructure that human civilization relies on, from the water we drink to the power we consume. Our aging infrastructure is failing, and BrightAI will fundamentally change how it’s managed and maintained,” said Alex Hawkinson, Founder & CEO of BrightAI.
“With Stateful OS, we’re not just improving efficiency; we’re enabling a shift towards data-driven, sustainable infrastructure management. We’ve partnered with our initial customers to understand their roadblocks and ensure our platform can alleviate them, and now we’re ready to expand to improve infrastructure across industries.

In partnership with leading private equity firms in infrastructure, BrightAI is transforming six major industries and impacting tens of millions of consumers and businesses. Now, to further accelerate the development of its platform and grow its customer base, BrightAI recently secured $15 million in Series Seed funding led by Upfront Ventures.

One example of BrightAI’s impact can be seen in its partnership with Azuria Water Solutions, an early adopter of Stateful OS. Traditional methods of pipeline inspection relied on subjective, manual assessments, which can lead to costly errors.

BrightAI is building autonomous systems for infrastructure inspections and operations, and Azuria will deploy these robotic systems equipped with multimodal AI sensors, which will collect real-time data processed through BrightAI’s Stateful OS platform. These sensors will provide exclusive data that no other solution can access, which will enable Azuria to make faster, more precise decisions. Azuria expects substantial improvements in quality and job satisfaction. Through automated data collection, coding and greater accuracy through AI-driven precision, Azuria expects to reduce errors in measurements and cutting processes.

Technology helps yield better results and makes work more enjoyable. We’re working to supplement difficult and repetitive work that can pose safety risks with robots, so our people can focus on higher-value tasks,” said Rob Tullman, CEO of Azuria.
“We are not shrinking as a result of this; we’re growing. BrightAI’s solutions will allow us to operate smarter, faster, and more efficiently.

For more information about BrightAI, please visit https://www.bright.ai.

About BrightAI:

BrightAI is a category-defining infrastructure AI company on a mission to transform global infrastructure from reactive to proactive management, setting a new standard in resilience and sustainability. With its Stateful OS platform, BrightAI enables organizations to gather real-time data, see the unseen, and understand the true state of their infrastructure with unprecedented efficiency. The company’s offerings include a comprehensive infrastructure AI platform and a vertical application stack that delivers sector-specific AI monitoring, diagnostics, and autonomous systems for managing infrastructure health.

Founded by AI pioneers and infrastructure experts, BrightAI supports industrial and infrastructure segments globally, including large service providers, asset owners, and government agencies in sectors such as water, power, gas, renewable energy, transportation, waste management, pest control, HVAC, and critical home services. By leveraging cutting-edge AI technology, BrightAI is setting new standards for infrastructure management and maintenance, paving the way for smarter, more efficient cities and industries.

Original press release available on WEBWIRE.