
Vizgard, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developer, has raised £1.5 million from a recent funding round.
This investment will drive the advancement of Vizgard’s AI technology, enabling the company to enhance security systems, improve public safety solutions, and deliver critical upgrades to defense applications.
Vizgard’s FortifAI platform leverages commercially available, energy-efficient processors to optimize a wide range of technologies, such as security cameras, anti-drone systems, and autonomous vehicles. The platform delivers precise, real-time threat detection and intelligent camera automation, significantly easing the burden on operators.
With this new funding, Vizgard aims to bridge vital gaps in surveillance and safety technology for defense and public safety sectors.
By integrating proven computer vision techniques with state-of-the-art Deep Learning models, FortifAI delivers dependable results in complex environments. A standout feature of the platform is the Behaviour Risk Index, Vizgard’s proprietary algorithm that computes a privacy-respecting risk assessment score by automatically blurring faces while identifying potential threats. This technology provides automatic alerts for critical yet often-overlooked incidents, such as identifying vulnerable individuals in dangerous situations or those at risk of self-harm.
Alex Kehoe, Founder of Vizgard, said, “The UK has all the ingredients to lead the world in defence AI, but the pace of transitioning from Proof of Concept to deployment is lagging. From the beginning, we focused on developing AI that could deliver the most immediate impact – operating at the edge, within or near moving cameras. Whether on land, in the air, or at sea, this approach ensures systems can react faster, act independently if GPS or communication is lost, and even act collaboratively to provide more actionable feedback. We’re excited to welcome our new investors onboard who are aligned with our mission to fully automate the cameras that protect us, while maintaining public privacy.”
Brian Kinane, Founding Partner at Sure Valley Ventures, added, “Vizgard is tackling the growing need for time-critical visual intelligence and precision camera automation in security and defence solutions. Their technology addresses important AI reliability concerns through a robust ‘systems approach’, identifying threats that would have been missed and allowing stronger performance in new environments. With the rapidly growing demand for AI in Defence and Security, and the team’s deep domain expertise, we believe Vizgard has the potential to become a global leader in AI vision automation.”
The round was led by specialist AI venture capital firm Sure Valley Ventures (SVV), with participation from Midwich Ignite and Focal. The funding will be used to scale Vizgard’s engineering and business development capabilities and establish international distribution to accelerate growth.