Percepto, one of Israel's best-known autonomous drone companies, is going through a management shake-up. According to Calcalist, CEO and co-founder Dor Abuhasira announced he is leaving after 12 years, and co-founder Ariel Avitan, who served as chief revenue officer, left after 11 years.
From drones to software
The departures come with a strategic shift: Percepto is launching Axion, a software platform that analyzes inspection data from other makers' equipment, not just its own drones. In other words, customers can now buy inspection analysis without buying the drones. The company calls the new direction "physical AI", AI that understands and acts in the real world.
What it means
The move to software could greatly expand the company's market, which sells mainly to energy, mining and industrial companies that need to inspect huge infrastructure. But according to RuntimeWire, Axion's adoption and performance are still unproven. No successor to Abuhasira as CEO has been announced.
Background
Percepto has raised more than $130 million over the years, including a $67 million Series C in 2023, a month after a second round of layoffs. The move from hardware to software is a familiar path in Israeli tech: software margins are higher, and it is easier to scale without making and shipping equipment.
