Rick Bryant, formerly executive vice president of sales for Volvo Cars U.S., has joined UVeye as the company’s executive vice president for strategic partnerships, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Headquartered in Teaneck and in Tel Aviv, Israel, UVeye offers industry-first vehicle-inspection systems based on advanced artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine-learning technologies for both the automotive and homeland security industries. UVeye recently secured $100 million in Series D funding to support major new partnership, sales and manufacturing initiatives in North America.
Bryant attended the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. A Boston native, he currently resides in the New York metropolitan area and will work out of UVeye’s offices in Teaneck.
In his new role, Bryant will be responsible for expanding UVeye’s existing partnerships while developing new relationships with major automotive dealership groups, fleet customers and used-car auctions in North America and elsewhere around the world.
The company’s recently completed Series D investment round was led by Hanaco VC, a venture-capital firm based in New York and Tel Aviv with $1.5 billion in assets under management. Existing investors that also participated in UVeye’s latest round included GM Ventures, CarMax, W.R. Berkley Corp. and F.I.T. Ventures L.P. as well as various Israeli institutional investors.
Bryant served as executive vice president of sales operations for Volvo Cars U.S. from 2013 through December 2022. He joined the company as an aftermarket sales manager in 1993 and went on to hold a series of senior management positions in commercial sales, regional operations and customer service. He previously had worked in sales with various other automotive brands, including Subaru, BMW, Buick and Honda.
“Our goal is to revolutionize and standardize how the auto industry detects vehicle damage and mechanical issues,” Hever said. “Rick Bryant will play a key role in achieving that goal as we expand our operations in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.”
UVeye currently has facilities in Israel, Japan, Germany and the U.S. Since its founding in 2016, the company has raised $200 million in investment capital and formed strategic partnerships with numerous automakers, dealership groups and used-car auctions.
Originally developed for use in the homeland security industry, UVeye technology applications later were expanded for use in the auto industry, revolutionizing multipoint inspection processes and improving the customer experience by scanning for and identifying a wide variety of quality and repair concerns.
