Irish Company Raises $18 Million for AI to Prevent Workplace Accidents

A Dublin, Ireland-based start-up raised more than $18 million in funding last month that will allow it to expand its workplace injury prevention software company into the U.S.

Protex AI uses AI and computer vision to help identify unsafe behavior in the workplace. Founded by Dan Hobbs and Ciaran O’Mara, the company said its platform uses existing domain knowledge of health and safety teams and provides them with a way to configure flexible safety rules. The software then performs safety audits autonomously and continuously, identifying risks and dangers before they become a problem. 

Dan Hobbs, CEO of Protex AI, said, “There’s a need for solutions to improve safety standards in industry."

“With the cost of workplace accidents estimated at $171 billion in the U.S. alone due to losses in productivity, insurance, and medical expenses, safety technology is a growing space as companies look to prevent huge losses in costs and time," Hobbs said. "The investment is also a strong endorsement that the technology we’re building at Protex AI is the right solution to revolutionize modern safety practices.” 

The company said it connects a client’s CCTC system with the AI to audit safety procedures. When companies use Protex AI, the company said, it will help to protect workers and ensure the workplace is safe. Currently, Protex AI has a client base in the United Kingdom which included major retailer Marks & Spenser (M&S). 

“Site safety is critical to our colleagues and Protex AI’s technology brings behavioral visibility to the next level,” M&S Chairman Archie Norman said. “What we like about the approach is that it uses and interprets real data to enable our teams to adopt a preventative approach reducing risk of injury and keeping our people safe.” 

The company raised more than €18.1 million, roughly $18 million, in seed and Series-A and Series-E funding. Investors included Notion Capital and Flexport, as well as several other existing and new investors. Investors said the company’s always-on technology, and the company’s privacy policies influenced their investments. 

“Protex is a leader in the proactive safety technology market and has quickly become the go-to platform for leading global enterprises wanting to achieve health and safety excellence, Kamil Mieczakowski, principal of Notion Capital said. “The founding team’s deep domain expertise in building computer vision products has already translated into an extraordinary level of traction for a company of their stage, and we’re excited to be investing in the business to drive the further development of their platform and to put more resources into marketing, sales and increasing the company’s global footprint.”

In November 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers reported 2.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2020, a 5.7 percent drop in the number of injuries and illness in 2019. 

The Bureau said injuries dropped from 2.1 million nonfatal injuries in 2020, down from 2.7 million in 2019. Private employers reported a rate of 2.2 injuries per 100 full-time workers in 2020, compared to 2.6 cases in 2019. 

The top 10 occupations accounting for nearly 40 percent of all cases involving days away from work included nursing assistants, registered nurses; laborers and freight, stock and material movers; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; stockers and order fillers; licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses; retail salespersons; personal care aides; production workers; and maintenance and repair workers. 

The bureau said that total injury and illness cases decreased or remained the same in all private industry sectors except for health care and social assistance. While the health care and social assistance sector injuries and illnesses increased 40.1 percent to 806,200 cases in 2020, up from 575,200 in 2019. 

Nursing assistants, registered nurses and licenses practical and licensed vocational nurses all had notable increases in their rate of days away from work at 1,023.8 incidents per 10,000 full-time workers in 2020, an increase from 283.5 workers in 2019. On the other hand, the rate for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers decreased from 280 days away from work per 10,000 full-time workers in 2019 to 259.7 in 2020.

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