City Detect, which uses AI to help cities stay safe and clean, raises $13M Series A

City Detect, a startup founded in 2021 that leverages vision AI to help local governments monitor urban health, has raised $13 million in a Series A funding round led by Prudence Venture Capital. The company uses cameras mounted on public vehicles such as garbage trucks to capture images of buildings and neighborhoods, then applies computer vision to identify issues like graffiti, illegal dumping, litter, structural damage, and code violations. This approach enables cities to track thousands of problem areas weekly, a significant improvement over the manual tracking methods currently in place. City Detect’s technology also respects privacy by blurring faces and license plates and can differentiate between street art and vandalism. Currently operating in at least 17 cities including Dallas and Miami, City Detect collaborates with local governments to address urban blight efficiently, often resolving issues without citations. The company has raised a total of $15 million to date and is a member of the GovAI Coalition, SOC 2 Type II compliant, and adheres to a Responsible AI