Tech hardware has always been about trading off compact designs and affordable prices, but Munich-based Blickfeld GmbH has shown us that you can have the best of both worlds. At the Sensors Converge 2022 conference and expo, this innovative company was selected as the winner for the Best of Sensors Startup of the Year. The Best of Sensors awards are given to the most innovative and transformative companies, people, and products in the industry.
Founded in 2017, Blickfeld GmbH aims to create a smarter, safer, and more efficient world through lidar sensor technology. The company’s line of high-performance Cube sensors are the smallest 3D solid-state lidar sensors in the world, and its low-cost design means that lidar technology is becoming accessible to more and more industries, from automotive to venue management.
Blickfeld’s head of business development for North America Steffen Bartschat spoke about the company’s recipe for success.
The following has been lightly edited.
FE: Congratulations on winning the Startup of the Year Award! How do you feel and what does winning this award mean to you and the Blickfeld team?
SB: It’s a great honor to be named Startup of the Year, and it is a testament to the traction we have achieved, both in the automotive industry and increasingly in the industrial IoT sector.
FE: Which aspect of Blickfeld contributed most to winning the award? The product? The team? Something else?
SB: I think our successes speak for us. We offer a solution consisting of our solid-state lidar sensor and our very flexible perception software stack. Based on this, we were able to produce some very interesting success stories to talk about. For example, our solution is predicting queue sizes at airport departure halls, preventing overcrowding at popular beaches, and even performing real-time volume measurements of bulk material stockpiles in mining operations. The need for computers to understand or “quantify” our environment has become ubiquitous across all businesses exploring their digital transformation, and lidar is a technology that can deliver in all lighting and weather conditions.
FE: Could you share a bit about how and why Blickfeld was founded?
SB: Lidar sensor tech has been around for decades, but wide-scale adoption has been hampered by the need to steer the laser beam with bulky electric motors, making the units expensive, heavy, and prone to mechanical failures. Our founders, all veterans from TU (Technical University) Munich, realized that MEMS (micro electromechanical systems) mirrors made from silicon wafers could be used to steer the laser beam, creating a solid-state sensor that is far more compact and cheaper to produce at volume. In 2017, they founded Blickfeld, and in 2020, the Blickfeld Cube started shipping to customers worldwide.
FE: What motivated you to join Blickfeld? How has the company changed and grown since you joined?
SB: Lidar technology can make the future smarter, safer, and more efficient. Businesses are engaged in digital transformation initiatives, and their key processes need data generated in real time! We are constantly discovering new use cases for lidar technology. Last year, our biggest growth area was quantifying people in large outdoor venues. This year, we are seeing a huge interest in quantifying stockpiles of bulk materials.
FE: What have been Blickfeld’s biggest challenges to success? How did the company overcome those challenges?
SB: An ongoing challenge as a fast-growing company is constantly hiring qualified specialists. We have close ties with the TU of Munich, and we’ve developed an attractive work culture and values to overcome this challenge. The fact that Blickfeld team members get to work on cutting-edge technology helps as well. Blickfeld is currently internationalizing, which comes with a whole set of challenges, of course — from registering the local entities and setting up offices to understanding new target markets. We’re working with very talented and experienced professionals to drive that stage.
FE: You’ve been involved with tech companies in Germany as well as in Silicon Valley. How would you compare the startup environment in both places?
SB: As a business development executive, I love working with German startups because they are great at engineering, and maybe not so great at defining messages that resonate with Americans. That’s easy to fix with improved messaging about real-world solutions and ROI calculations. Silicon Valley startups may be better at the messaging, but sometimes there are unpleasant surprises when it comes to execution.
FE: What’s next for Blickfeld? Where would you like to see the company go in the next five years?
SB: The future of lidar is smart. Powerful software will be crucial to getting the most benefits from the immense volume of data captured. This is why Blickfeld recently announced the next generation of lidar, the Qb2, which combines software and hardware in one device. Embedding the software in the sensor allows it to directly generate comprehensive information, which makes the handling even easier and allows customers to quickly deploy and operate lidar solutions. Additionally, our sensors are designed for high-volume production. Higher-volume production will lead to lower product prices, which in turn will further increase potential application areas. Think about it: There are so many items in our built environment that can and should be quantified to make business operations or the customer experience more efficient. I am really looking forward to setting this flywheel of higher volume leading to lower prices and in turn more application areas into motion over the next five years.
FE: What advice would you give to companies hoping to become future Startup of the Year winners?
SB: All startup journeys are filled with unknowns and many uncontrollable variables. But we can all control our level of perseverance. Don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged, but work to make progress one day at a time. Soon, what looked like an insurmountable challenge will loom close ahead as an achievable objective.
FE: Any final thoughts?
SB: I’d like to thank the Sensors Converge team for their outreach to the startup community. Sensors Converge provides excellent opportunities to get the word out about our products, ranging from participation in themed workshops to exhibiting at the Expo, and of course, also being nominated for an award in multiple categories. We are thrilled to be an award winner at this year’s show and are looking forward to upcoming opportunities!
FE: Thank you very much!
Check out the complete list of finalists in the Best of Sensors 2022 Awards.