Basemark secures $7.9 million to expand its autonomous car software

You might not have heard about Basemark, but you've surely experienced some of its founders effects on the gaming and tech industry. Tero Sarkkinen, founder and chairman of Basemark, used to run the Futuremark sales and marketing -- Futuremark, you know the gigantic benchmark company.

Well, Sarkkinen has been hard at work with his new journey in Basemark, with the startup raising $7.9 million in funding to continue its advancements in graphics software for autonomous vehicles. ETF Partners was the sole partner in the funding round, with $7.9 million raised.

The legend himself, Tero Sarkkinen -- Basemark founder and chairman, explains: "We are thrilled to have ETF Partners on board. Over the years we have worked hard on building a category-defining product and establishing strong international relationships across the automotive industry. This new capital injection will enable us to hit the gas and take us to the next level".

Basemark works with most of the world-leading carmakers and system-on-a-chip companies, with the company using its relationships that it's built over the years throughout the industry in order to create AI and software for the future of autonomous vehicles.

Remy de Tonnac with ETF Partners added: "We are delighted to join the Basemark journey. Road transportation is responsible for about 20% of total CO2 emissions and research has shown that the introduction of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) could help reduce transport emissions by as much as 80%, due to the advent of Transport as a Service and improved asset utilisation. We believe Basemark's critical AI and software technology are integral parts of the AV revolution".

Basemark CEO Keith Silverang chimed in, adding: "My own focus since I started has been on building up mature business processes and a world-class team, so that we can accelerate our core product development and scale-up rapidly. That team is now in place. We have had very strong and profitable growth to date, and our goal is to transform Basemark into a leading software product company in the space in the next couple of years. The ETF investment will enable us to do just that. ETF will bring us not only the fuel for growth, but we can benefit from their focus on sustainability, professionalism, experience and world-class network".