Basque start-up SafeLoc Systems raises €1.45 million in a round led by Kutxa Fundazioa

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SafeLoc Systems, a Basque start-up that follows workers and vehicles around industrial sites in real time, has raised €1.45 million. Kutxa Fundazioa led the round, joined by BeAble Capital and Basque Tek Ventures, the venture vehicle run by Gestión de Capital Riesgo del País Vasco, part of the Basque business development agency Grupo Spri. The deal values the company at €4.5 million.

SafeLoc began as a spin-off of the CEIT technology centre, drawing on more than 15 years of radio-frequency and positioning research, and BeAble Capital formally set it up in 2023. Its system combines real-time location (RTLS) with ultra-wideband radio and locates staff and machines with an accuracy of 10 to 30 centimetres, in precisely the settings where positioning usually gives up: dense metal structures, electromagnetic interference and poor visibility. It holds four patents, says it reduces workplace accidents by over 90%, claims to need up to 48% less hardware than it otherwise would, and adds an AI layer that turns position data into operational information. Clients include Gestamp, ArcelorMittal, Ternium and ABB, in sectors from steel and automotive to aeronautics, logistics, shipbuilding and construction. Saving lives is the headline benefit; for the finance department, the company also counts up to 12,000 recovered working hours and an estimated €350,000 a year per plant.

The money will go to scaling the technology industrially and expanding abroad. SafeLoc is active in Spain and Mexico, plans to enter Poland and Morocco shortly, and has France, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Czech Republic on its list after that. Chief executive Pablo Muntaner said the goal is to make industry "safer, more efficient and smarter".