The Leuven-based technology company Segments.ai is being acquired by Uber. The start-up developed a platform for multi-sensor data labeling for computer vision and was foundedin 2020. Over the past two years, they've grown 3x consecutively year-over-year. It counts more than impressive clients worldwide, including Lufthansa, Ford, John Deere or Serve Robotics, who are already integrating diverse sensor inputs.
- Founded in early 2020
- Founded by Otto Debals (CEO) and Bert De Brabandere (CTO)
- Funded in 2021 by Y Combinator and otherVC funds, including Merus Capital, Volta Ventures
The Leuven-based tech company was founded in early 2020 by Otto Debals (CEO) and Bert De Brabandere (CTO), after completing their PhDs and gaining experience in the (automotive) industry. Back in the day, they started as an image segmentation tool and have grown into a full-fledged multisensor annotation platform. By now, 3D labeling has surpassed 2D labeling.
Segments.ai participated in our accelerator program in 2019, under the guidance of business coach Dirk Lievens. It was also the first Belgian start-up to be accepted into Y Combinator in 2021. Y Combinator is a prestigious American startup accelerator that provides seed funding, mentorship, and an extensive alumni network to early-stage companies, including notable examples such as Airbnb, Coinbase, DoorDash, Dropbox, and Stripe. More recently, they were selected as one of Deloitte’s 2025 Technology Fast 50, recognizing the 50 fastest-growing technology companies. A testament to the incredible journey they've been on over the past few years.
Since then, Segments.ai has remained an active Start it Hubs member in our community. The company even hired former Start it @KBC colleagues Tom Staelens and Anna Thomlinson.
For their seed capital, Segments.ai could count on various investment funds, including Merus Capital and Volta Ventures. The company is now being fully acquired by Uber, though an acquisition amount has not been communicated.