Startup Spartan Radar closes new round of financing

Automakers have used radar in vehicles for more than two decades. But there are more startups than ever wringing innovation out of that legacy technology.

The latest is Spartan Radar, which closed a $15 million series A round this week. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, and it quickly follows a $10 million seed round secured in August.

Spartan Radar executives say their radar systems — emerging from the aerospace and defense industries — make substantial advances in resolution, allowing for lidarlike levels of obstacle detection for driver-assist systems and self-driving vehicles.

The company’s chief product, Biomimetic Radar, parallels the manner in which humans perceive and process information. It can lead to a lower rate of false-positive detections, company executives say.

“Spartan Radar’s innovative systems engineering and edge-processing expertise inherently gives the company a strategic advantage,” said Grayson Brulte, a mobility strategist and co-founder of consulting firm Brulte & Co. “The company is extremely well positioned to capitalize on the growth of autonomy.”

The funding comes at a time of heightened interest and business in extracting more from radar’s role in the suite of sensors that perceive surroundings and enable advanced driving features.

— Pete Bigelow