Protex AI Secures $36M Series B to Power Safer and Smarter Industrial Workplaces with AI

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Safety isn’t just a checkbox anymore—it’s a business imperative. As industries worldwide face increasing regulatory pressures and operational challenges, the need for proactive safety solutions has never been greater. That’s why we’re excited to announce our $36 million Series B funding round, led by Hedosophia with participation from Salesforce Ventures and our existing investors. This investment will accelerate our expansion across the U.S. and further our mission to transform workplace safety with AI-driven insights and computer vision technology.

With 2.4% of U.S. workers experiencing safety incidents each year—resulting in over 5,200 fatalities in 2023 alone—companies can no longer afford to take a reactive approach. Protex AI is empowering leading industrial organizations to stay ahead of risks with real-time, actionable insights that not only protect workers but also enhance operational efficiency.

Safety is no longer just about compliance—it’s about resilience, efficiency, and employee well-being,” says Dan Hobbs, our CEO. “We’re helping companies get ahead of risks with real-time insights that not only protect workers but also optimize operations.

And it’s delivering results. Fortune 500 companies like DHL have achieved an average 64% reduction in workplace risk within just three months of deploying Protex AI. Our privacy-first approach—powered by advanced anonymization and edge computing—ensures organizations can confidently tackle safety challenges while maintaining employee trust.

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How Are We Enabling Proactive EHS Decision-Making?

Protex is enabling proactive EHS decision-making by leveraging advanced computer vision and AI technologies to provide real-time insights into worker behavior and safety risks. Leading the way toward a future where safety is proactive, decisions are informed, risks are visible, and outcomes are improved, Protex is revolutionizing how EHS teams manage safety and compliance in the workplace.

To bring this vision of proactive safety to life, Protex is driven by four foundational pillars that empower EHS teams to revolutionize their own safety practices:

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1. Configuration

Challenge:

• EHS teams often face the challenge of managing diverse safety risks across different facilities, each with its own unique requirements and conditions. Standardized systems often fall short, making it difficult to capture critical events or tailor safety measures to specific needs. This lack of configurability can lead to missed risks, delayed responses, and a reactive approach to safety management.

Solution:

• Protex solves this challenge by offering a flexible rule-building feature that allows EHS teams to capture critical events tailored specifically to the unique conditions of each facility. This adaptability ensures that no important safety event is overlooked. Additionally, our customizable dashboards provide a powerful tool for visualizing data in real time, enabling teams to quickly spot emerging trends and patterns. 

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2.Integrations

Challenge:

• Many EHS teams face the challenge of managing disparate systems and data silos, making it difficult to get a comprehensive, real-time view of workplace safety. With multiple tools and platforms in play, integrating and centralizing data often introduces complexity and inefficiencies. This fragmentation can slow down decision-making and hinder the ability to act proactively on safety risks.

Solution:

• To address the challenge of fragmented EHS systems and disconnected data sources, Protex provides a powerful solution with our open API. This API seamlessly integrates with your existing EHS stack, enabling smooth communication between your current safety tools, business intelligence platforms, and EHS systems. By connecting these platforms without adding any complexity, we enhance the efficiency of your operations and ensure that all safety data is centralized and accessible in real time.

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3. Insights

Challenge:

• EHS teams often struggle to extract actionable insights from the vast amount of safety data they collect, making it challenging to quickly identify risks and take preventive measures. Without real-time, context-rich insights, decision-making can become reactive rather than proactive, leaving gaps in safety protocols and slowing down response times to potential hazards.

Solution:

• Copilot, our Gen-AI tool, paired with intuitive dashboards, streamlines the process of turning complex safety data into immediate, actionable insights. By analyzing real-time data and offering contextual recommendations, Copilot helps EHS teams identify emerging risks, refine safety protocols on the fly, and make confident, data-driven decisions. 

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4. Privacy & Security:

Challenge:

• EHS teams often face concerns over the security and privacy of sensitive workforce data, especially when using advanced technologies like computer vision. Storing and processing video footage externally can lead to privacy risks and potential data breaches, creating reluctance in adopting these technologies. Balancing the need for real-time safety insights with strict privacy and security requirements remains a significant challenge.

Solution:

• We prioritize secure, on-premise video feed processing, ensuring that all data remains within your control and is never exposed to external vulnerabilities. This approach not only protects your sensitive workforce data but also preserves privacy, allowing you to comply with strict regulations. At the same time, we deliver the essential safety insights you need in real time, without compromising on security or privacy, enabling proactive safety management with full confidence.

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How are our clients driving results with proactive decision-making?

Our many Fortune 500 clients are achieving an average 64% reduction in workplace risk within just three months of deploying Protex AI. Here’s a real life example…

Marks & Spencer Reduced Incidents By 80% IN Their First 10 Weeks of Deployment

Who are Marks & Spencer?

• M&S is a leading British retailer that provides millions of customers worldwide with high-quality, low-cost food, clothing, and homeware. Established in 1884. The company now operates over 1,400 stores worldwide.Employs approximately 65,000 people. Their UK network currently consists of 19 distribution centre's and warehouses nationally, including large centre's in Swindon, Bradford and Castle Donington.

The Challenge - Identify areas of risk with scaling workforce

• Following the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, M&S's largest Ecommerce Distribution Centre at Castle Donington, witnessed a heavy increase in customer orders to two million single orders per week. This increase in demand meant more workers were required on-site.
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  As a result, it was a requirement from senior management to ensure that the safety of their colleagues’ was of the utmost importance and that safety events and incidents were kept to a minimum.
  
  James Carter, Network Health and Safety Manager at M&S mentions "Our colleagues’ are our most important asset and keeping them safe is the most important thing we do".
  
  It was then a priority for the HSE team to investigate best-fit tools and technology in order to ensure they were equipped to easily identify areas of risk in their business and promote proactive decision-making that results in a safer workplace for their staff.

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The Solution - Identify areas of risk with scaling workforce

In M&S's journey to identify best-fit safety solutions, Protex AI was chosen to help their HSE team to identify areas of risk across their warehouse facilities and keep accidents to a minimum.
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Alice Conners, HSE Specialist at Castle Donington says 'We can't be everywhere at once, and we can't be on site 24 hours a day. So having Protex AI is like having an extra set of eyes, and it helps us in keeping our colleagues safe.'
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The autonomous event capture has allowed their team to see exactly what has accrued over a certain time period - even if the team are not on-site - tag any events that have occurred, and make data-informed decisions. Being able to educate staff how to carry out duties in a safer manner rather than creating a negative outcome was also a priority. The ability to play back different incidents in Protex AI has been really useful with this process.
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Also, to ensure that implementation of the solution was as efficient as possible, seamless integration with their existing CCTV infrastructure was a key factor for choosing Protex AI. James mentions that this process was "less time consuming, less overwhelming, and relatively straightforward."

The Outcome - 80% Reduction In Workplace Incidents

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The HSE team noticed an immediate impact from week one to week two after deploying Protex AI. In this early period, they witnessed a 40% decrease in events that could be classified as unsafe on one of their primary camera feeds. The core reason for this reduction in events was due to the HSE team being able to instantly identify patterns in unsafe behaviors on the warehouse floor, and then quickly implement focused staff training to address the issue. There was also a noticeable improvement regarding the warehouse team's attitude towards safety. Post staff training, Alice mentions that the communication shifted from “We’ve got cameras watching us” to "We've got a Health and Safety Manager supporting us, making sure we're staying safe”.

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The reduction of unsafe events continued to decrease over a 3 month period. Again, the core reason for this was enabling their HSE team to further identify patterns in unsafe behaviors, quickly implement training to address the issues and improve colleague’s attitude towards safety. This momentum led to an impressive 80% reduction in incidents across the warehouse floor. Even more impressive, post this 3 month deployment period, their HSE team has been able to maintain this lower number of incidents to within +/- 5% of baseline figures, reinforcing the influence of Protex in contributing to a proactive safety culture. Additionally Protex AI has helped increase near miss reporting by over 10% across site, due to incidents that weren’t seen at the time now being visible.

In addition to the above, M&S increased the number of agency workers on site, and because they were not as familiar with the safety rules of the site, the HSE team noted an increase in events captured by Protex AI incidents, prompting them to review their induction process and ensure their training program for agency workers is implemented correctly. The ability to understand why there may be an increase in incidents and to take data-informed action has been a significant benefit for them. "Having that extra capability to notice unsafe behaviors that may be occurring on a regular basis, and then figuring out why they are happening and what we can do to make those trends safe has been really powerful." says James.

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Overall, the Protex AI solution has been positively received by on-site workers and the HSE team at M&S, demonstrating to site workers that senior management prioritize a safe work environment and that they want to make proactive improvements to their existing safety culture. Alice shared 'It has shown our colleagues that we are willing to try new things and we want to get positive results from it, implementing protex AI has been a real eye opener, I think for the whole Castle Donington site and for gaining visibility of what our risks are, and turning those risks into proactive knowledge’. The internal health and safety ethos at Castle Donington is "Safety through trust, and protex is allowing us to stand by that," according to James.

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To discover how our clients are achieving an average 64% reduction in workplace incidents, visit our case studies page for more insights.

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Join the next chapter of proactive safety decision-making?

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By joining our team, you'll be at the forefront of innovation, driving real impact on global safety standards in a collaborative, dynamic environment. As we expand our reach, we’re looking for passionate, forward-thinking individuals to help shape the future of proactive safety decision-making. Here, you'll grow within a company that values talent, fosters innovation, and prioritizes well-being. 

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We’d love for you to join us and be part of a team that’s redefining workplace safety and continuous improvement. Check out our current job posts here.

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