Underground mining isn’t exactly the place you expect to find a revolution in vision, but that’s exactly where Mine Vision Systems just struck gold. Born out of Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics Engineering Center in 2015, the Pittsburgh-based startup has been quietly mapping the future, literally, turning pitch-black tunnels into data-rich highways of insight. And with a fresh $12.5M Series A led by Rockwell Venture Capital, joined by Condire Investors, the lights just got a lot brighter.
CEO Michael Smocer calls 2025 a breakout year, and you can see why. Smocer, a veteran of ANSYS, Voci Technologies, and Citrine Informatics, has built a business that feels more like a mission, transforming a consulting outfit into a product powerhouse. CTO Bryan Nagy, who once helped Uber’s self-driving team and previously cut his teeth at Carnegie Mellon’s NREC, isn’t just chasing precision; he’s engineering clarity in chaos. And when your product operates where GPS taps out, clarity isn’t a luxury, it’s the line between progress and peril.
That product, FaceCapture, isn’t your typical mining gadget. It captures 3D geometry in real time, mapping the underground in milliseconds using LiDAR-based SLAM tech. Translation: it lets miners “see” what’s invisible, shaving geologist face-time by 80% while feeding seamless, geo-referenced data straight into existing mine planning software. It’s not sci-fi, it’s smart business, designed by people who actually understand the rock and the rhythm beneath it.
Rockwell Venture Capital’s Kent Rockwell has been backing this team since 2016, long before computer vision in mining was cool. And Condire’s Ryan Schedler didn’t just show up with a check, his team ran deep diligence across portfolio mines, coming back with a single verdict: FaceCapture isn’t optional tech, it’s essential infrastructure. When investors at that level start using words like “essential,” you know you’re not pitching potential anymore, you’re executing performance.
The $12.5M raise pushes MVS’s total equity funding north of $27M, following an $11.5M later-stage round earlier this year. The capital fuels R&D, accelerates rollout of their underground decision platform, and expands teams in Pittsburgh, because sometimes the next global mining frontier starts in a steel town. Advisory voices like Barry Henderson (ex-Maptek CEO) and Greg Mulholland (Citrine Informatics CEO) round out a leadership crew that doesn’t just talk AI, they’ve built it, sold it, and scaled it.
