Nearhuman raises £350,000 pre‑seed to bring physical AI to e‑scooters

Nearhuman has raised £350,000 in pre-seed funding, led by SFC Capital. The funding will support the development of our on-device safety technology for shared e-scooter and e-bike fleets, and our live pilot is now running in Bristol.

Why this matters

Shared e-scooters have become part of everyday travel in many cities, and the number of people hurt has grown with them. E-scooter casualties in Great Britain have more than tripled since official records began, from 454 in 2020 to 1,477 in 2025, according to the Department for Transport. Europe is seeing a similar trend: German police recorded 16,496 e-scooter accidents with injuries in 2025, up 38% in a year, while e-scooter deaths in France almost doubled.

Operators, councils and road safety groups are tackling this through better infrastructure, rider education, enforcement and vehicle design. One gap that remains is data: there is often little direct evidence of how and where vehicles are actually ridden.

What we’re building

Our camera module fits onto vehicles already on the street. AI running on the vehicle is designed to detect pavement riding, close calls with pedestrians and road hazards as they happen. Footage is processed and redacted on board, so sensitive video does not need to leave the vehicle.

The aim is to give operators safety insights without replacing their fleets, and in time to give councils street-level information on the condition of roads, cycle lanes and pavements.

Where it started

Our founder, Faizan Mir, grew up in Kashmir and was building things from an early age. At 14, he built a drone and a working flamethrower, earning national recognition. His father’s response stayed with him: “How does a flamethrower help people? Build something that makes the world a better place.”

At 16, Faizan represented North India in Mobile Robotics at IndiaSkills and won a Medallion for Excellence. He went on to study robotics at UWE Bristol before founding Nearhuman at Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

“My father’s question has shaped everything I’ve built since. Shared scooters and bikes are one of the best things to happen to cities, but the people responsible for them often lack good data on what happens on the street. Technology on its own won’t fix that. Better streets, education and enforcement all matter. What we can do is help give operators and councils clearer evidence, with privacy built into the hardware.”

“AI has changed how we work on screens. The next shift is AI that runs inside physical machines, and Nearhuman is building for exactly that. E-scooters are a smart place to start, a real safety problem in UK cities today. But what Nearhuman is really building is the intelligence layer for the physical world.”

What’s next

Our live pilot in Bristol will test the system in real-world conditions. The funding will support product development, on-street testing and commercial deployment, and we plan to release further physical AI products in the coming months.

Thank you to SFC Capital and everyone who has supported us on the way here.

Press and media

Press and media enquiries: info@nearhuman.co