£500m driverless car company praises start-up support

Pioneering driverless car company Conigital has praised the University of Essex after it secured £500 million in funding.

The firm was supported by the Angels@Essex team which offered invaluable advice and guidance as the start-up launched.

Conigital now claims £500m injection makes it the highest-funded driverless vehicle startup in the UK and Europe and hailed the investment as an “exceptional milestone”.

The expert team at Essex identified the company as a hot prospect in 2020 after a pitching competition in October 2020, where Conigital won a share of up to £150K.

Incredible journey

Founder Don Dhaliwal said: “The University of Essex and its Angels@Essex team have been behind us all the way on this incredible journey of ours.

“From our initial fund raise, subsequent seed rounds, awards and now our Series A, the university has supported us in so many ways, with advice, contacts, networking and always there for us when we needed them.

“We have valued your consistent friendship and wish to continue our relationship with you in the future.”

The company is developing a full-stack "Lift and Shift" driverless vehicle platform ConICAV™ for any vehicle type.

It retrofits and custom-builds driverless vehicles for industrial and commercial fleets for various use cases.

Pioneering

A pioneering remote monitoring and teleoperation platform complements a hybrid explainable AI and simulation-first approach which also ensures scalability and rapid iteration.

This further facilitates early commercialisation within closed and semi-closed environments such as airports, ports, logistic yards, Industrial sites, and smart campuses.
Conigital is operational in Australia, Brazil, and India.

Business Support Manager John Stenhouse said: “The team at Angels@Essex all agreed from the onset that Conigital was an exceptional business with massive potential, and we all recognised the leadership skills of Don Dhaliwal and his excellent management team, all vital ingredients to scale and grow rapidly.

“It was a pleasure working with Don and his team who listened and reacted positively to the support we provided along their incredible journey to Series A, sharing the highs and lows and seeking alternative strategies to solve new problems.

“A good business idea will get funded - this only proves our long-held belief”