BrightAI Raises $51M from Khosla Ventures and Inspired Capital to Bring Physical AI to the World’s Essential Services

• Led by leaders from SmartThings, Rivian, and Microsoft, BrightAI unlocks billions of untapped data points from the physical world, deploying AI across assets like power poles, oil and gas infrastructure, water pipelines, HVAC, and pest control.

• BrightAI equips frontline teams to work smarter and outpace labor shortages, aging infrastructure, and climate impacts.

• Backed by its Series A, BrightAI is expanding into new industries, bringing on new customers, and assembling a team of the best and brightest at its new San Francisco headquarters.

BrightAI, the company bringing AI into the physical world to power smarter, more resilient infrastructure, today announced a $51 million Series A funding round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Inspired Capital, with participation from BoxGroup, Marlinspike, VSC Ventures, Rsquared VC, Cooley LLP and other strategic investors with deep operational experience across essential sectors like water, energy, and industrial infrastructure. Upfront Ventures led BrightAI’s Seed round, and this new capital brings BrightAI’s total funding to $78 million.

While AI has rapidly transformed the digital world, the physical infrastructure that keeps it all running—power grids, water pipelines, industrial systems—has been left behind. These essential networks are strained by aging assets, climate volatility, and deepening labor shortages. In the U.S. alone, pipeline leaks waste over 6 billion gallons of treated water every day—enough to supply 15 million homes—while power outages cost the economy more than $150 billion annually and equipment failures add another $50 billion in industrial downtime.

BrightAI was founded in 2019 with a bold mission: to bring AI into the physical world. Led by CEO and founder Alex Hawkinson, who previously founded SmartThings, BrightAI is replacing reactive inspections and manual maintenance with intelligent, always-on systems. The platform empowers field teams to anticipate and prevent failures before they happen, transforming the fundamental approach to infrastructure management for the first time since the Roman era.

“AI will not only transform the digital world but our physical world as well,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “BrightAI is using AI to monitor and maintain aging infrastructure, from power grids to pipelines and more, securing key assets for our future.”

Despite touching the most essential parts of daily life, these systems are still monitored manually, with sparse data and infrequent inspections. Operators are often in the dark until something breaks—leading to costly, last-minute interventions. Risks like power outages or burst pipes remain difficult to predict and even harder to fix.

BrightAI gives field teams something they’ve never had before: true observability. While most AI systems are running out of new data to learn from, BrightAI is just getting started—unlocking billions of previously untapped signals from the physical world and turning them into real-time, actionable insights. With its platform, Stateful, teams gain always-on visibility into even the most remote physical assets.

“BrightAI has solved a problem that’s lingered for decades—manual, reactive maintenance that leaves operators blind until critical failures occur,” said Alexa von Tobel, Managing Partner at Inspired Capital. “By deploying intelligent systems that can see, interpret, and act in real time, BrightAI brings the clarity and control these industries have long needed. This is real, high-impact innovation—built for the physical world.”

Deployed across 50,000+ locations, BrightAI is building a dynamic, ever-expanding knowledge graph of the physical world. Its technology is embedded directly into the built environment—using sensors, drones, and wearables to continuously monitor asset health and deliver real-time, actionable insights. Field teams know exactly what to do before small anomalies become costly failures.

By transforming inspections and maintenance, BrightAI helps customers boost productivity, improve service quality, enhance worker safety, and navigate ongoing labor shortages. Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• No more flashlight-and-clipboard patrols: BrightAI’s sensors and edge-AI monitor assets with expert insight around the clock, surfacing issues before crews ever step into the field.
   

• No more repetitive, risky work: AI-powered robots take on dirty and dangerous inspection tasks, reducing safety hazards and freeing human teams to focus on skilled, high-value jobs.
   

• No more steep learning curves: Wearables and mobile tools deliver real-time AI guidance, equipping new technicians with the know-how of a seasoned expert—on day one.

“For decades, the physical world has lacked real-time awareness—teams have been forced to operate reactively, without the visibility they need,” said Alex Hawkinson, Founder and CEO of BrightAI. “We designed BrightAI to close that gap by continuously capturing and translating real-world signals into actionable intelligence. When you can truly observe what’s happening, you can get ahead of problems rather than chase them. That shift isn’t incremental—it’s foundational. And with the backing of Khosla Ventures and Inspired Capital, we’re scaling that transformation across the essential services that the world depends on.”

This shift is already playing out across the real world. BrightAI has achieved product-market fit in sectors like power, water, pest control, HVAC, and manufacturing—surpassing $100 million in revenue. Its Stateful platform is built to learn and operate in any physical environment, and with fresh funding and an expanded leadership team, the company is scaling into new markets and accelerating commercial deployments. A new San Francisco headquarters opens next quarter, with plans to hire 50+ new team members over the coming year. The next chapter is about unlocking physical AI at global scale—to transform how the world’s essential systems are seen, understood, and managed.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.bright.ai/.

About BrightAI

BrightAI is transforming essential services with Physical AI—real-world intelligence that drives proactive, data-driven operations. Built on the Stateful platform, BrightAI empowers operators of critical infrastructure to collect and connect sensor data in real time, uncover hidden insights, and make smarter decisions. From predictive diagnostics and autonomous robotics to digital twins and AI-enabled workflows, BrightAI solutions serve industries including water, power, gas compression, pest control, HVAC, and manufacturing. By turning complex physical signals into actionable intelligence, BrightAI is redefining how essential services are delivered and sustained.

Contact Information

VSC for BrightAI

Media Contact

VSC

brightai@vsc.co