AI Software Company Case Study – Urbint

About Urbint

SVB is delighted to share the success story of Urbint, a company whose platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict threats to workers and critical infrastructure and stop incidents before they happen.

The bold idea

Seeking their next big hit in 2015, rising tech entrepreneur Corey Capasso and two colleagues were exploring ideas for using AI to predict when buildings would become distressed. This led to a meeting with a New York energy company, where their contact mentioned an urgent need: to identify the gas service lines most at risk of corrosion and leaks.

After successfully leveraging Urbint’s AI to increase the rate of identifying gas lines with corrosion, Urbint turned to creating purpose-built solutions to reduce risk in the critical infrastructure sector. Urbint first applied its industry-leading technologies to prevent damage to underground assets, expanding to serve major utility and infrastructure companies across North America, and later introduced new asset security technology. powered by AI to prevent worker injuries on the job.

Since utilities are typically cautious about adopting new technologies, the management team needed the right mix of financial and strategic energy investors to drive their business forward.

The partnership

Corey and his colleagues turned to SVB after launching their Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners in 2018. The SVB Climate Technology & Sustainability team immediately saw the value of Urbint’s AI technology for owners/operators of gas, electricity and telecommunications. In turn, SVB’s expertise in technology and energy has enabled the bank to understand Urbint’s vision, long-term strategy and industry challenges more holistically than other banking partners.

The solution

SVB provided a steady stream of banking services and loan capital as Urbint expanded its capabilities:

• After Urbint raised a $15 million Series A round, SVB followed in early 2019 with a $3.5 million growth capital term loan, refinanced at $4.25 million the year next.
• During the outbreak of COVID-19, SVB supported and advised Urbint through the Paycheck Protection Program assessment process. Then, alongside Urbint’s $20 million Series B raise, SVB refinanced its existing growth capital term loan to $6 million.
• In 2021, SVB issued a term sheet for a mezzanine term loan and recurring line of credit to support an acquisition opportunity.
• Along with a $63m Series C seed round in 2021, SVB refinanced its existing $13m loan and added a new $5m recurring revenue line of credit in early 2022.

The impact

Even in the early years of product development, Urbint was able to reduce the number of damages by 25% for some customers. Urbint now works with dozens of North America’s largest utility and infrastructure companies to prevent excavation damage and worker injury, enabling decision-makers to act in the right place, at the right time, before that an incident does not occur. Many of North America’s largest energy and infrastructure companies trust Urbint to protect their workers, assets and the communities they serve.