Shinya Sasaki

Ridge-i applies AI to social infrastructure inspection, public safety, and industrial monitoring, developing computer vision and AI analysis systems for inspecting power transmission lines, bridges, railways, and other critical infrastructure using drone imagery and sensor data. The Tokyo company provides AI-powered inspection services and software to utilities, government agencies, and infrastructure operators that need to maintain aging physical assets at lower cost and higher inspection frequency than manual inspection allows.\n\nThe company raised approximately $30 million in venture funding from Japanese investors including SBI Investment and Mitsui and Co. Venture Partners. Ridge-i has deployed AI inspection systems across Japan electricity transmission network, bridges under national highway authority management, and railway infrastructure, contributing to the broader Japanese government digital transformation initiative for aging infrastructure management. The company combines AI software development with technical domain expertise in infrastructure engineering.\n\nRidge-i competes in the Japanese infrastructure AI market alongside GeoCV, Bentley Systems, and the infrastructure inspection divisions of major Japanese engineering consultancies including Nippon Koei and Pasco. Japan aging infrastructure portfolio and the demographic reality of declining civil engineering workforce availability creates a structural demand for AI-assisted inspection that can extend the effective capacity of existing inspection personnel. Government contracts for infrastructure inspection AI represent a growing budget category as Japanese national and prefectural governments pursue digital transformation of maintenance operations.