Oryx Vision
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Oryx Vision was an Israeli low-cost LiDAR startup founded in 2009 by David Ben Bassat (CEO Ran Wellingstein later joined as co-founder). Its LiDAR camera system for autonomous cars had no moving parts: instead of capturing light particles with photodetectors, it used antennas to receive light as waves, capturing both range and velocity. The company raised $67 million (a $50M Series B in August 2017 led by Third Point Ventures and WRV) and competed directly with fellow Israeli LiDAR startup Innoviz.
02 / Oryx Vision FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
CEO Ran Wellingstein said the autonomous-vehicle field had changed immensely: 'Currently, the architecture of the autonomous vehicle is simply not converging, so a venture-backed company will not be able to justify the investment that will still be needed.' Mainstream autonomy was taking far longer than expected, and LiDAR was becoming a game of giants where a small company couldn't return its investors' money. Oryx tried to sell itself but failed, then shut down - even though it still held about $40 million in cash.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
Oryx Vision ended operations.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Oryx Vision raised $67 million from Third Point Ventures, WRV, Bessemer Venture Partners, Maniv Mobility and Trucks VC.
- 02
CEO Ran Wellingstein and founder David Ben Bassat tried to sell the company but were unsuccessful.
- 03
In August 2019 the company shut down its operations, laying off 45 employees; the remaining ~$40 million was returned to investors.