Sheryl Sandberg backs Bulgarian entrepreneur’s AI vehicle inspection startup as it targets Europe

Bulgarian technology entrepreneur Vince Gaydarzhiev is turning his attention from biometric security to one of the automotive industry's most persistent operational problems: determining the condition of a vehicle quickly, consistently and at scale.

Self Inspection, the San Diego-based company he co-founded, has secured $10 million, approximately €8.6 million, in Series A financing led by Sheryl Sandberg's Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners. The capital will support the development of new products, greater adoption among large corporate customers and an expansion into European markets, putting the region at the centre of the startup's next growth phase.

The round also attracted strategic investments from U.S. AutoForce and Westlake Financial, alongside Costanoa Ventures, Rebellion Ventures and DVx Ventures, the investment firm founded by former Tesla president Jon McNeill. Bulgarian BrightCap Ventures was the only European fund participating in the financing, potentially providing an important bridge as Self Inspection moves further into the continent.

The investment is particularly notable because Gaydarzhiev has already built another artificial intelligence company with strong European roots. The Bulgarian entrepreneur founded biometric access-control specialist Alcatraz AI and previously worked on Apple's Face ID team and GPU development at Nvidia. Alcatraz has raised more than €86 million in total financing, according to Gaydarzhiev's professional biography.

Self Inspection represents a very different application of computer vision, but the underlying challenge is similar: replacing a subjective human process with technology capable of generating standardised information that companies can trust.

Turning a smartphone into a vehicle inspection tool

Founded in 2021, Self Inspection uses artificial intelligence, computer vision and smartphone cameras to automate vehicle-condition assessments without requiring specialised inspection hardware.

A driver, dealer, fleet operator or customer can follow a guided capture process using a conventional smartphone. The system analyses the images, identifies damage and produces a standardised condition report that can include labour requirements, replacement parts and estimated repair costs. The information is then stored as an auditable record associated with the vehicle.

The company's ambition extends beyond automating an inspection that previously required an employee to walk around a car with a clipboard or dedicated equipment. Self Inspection wants to create what it describes as a “System of Record for Vehicle Condition”: a trusted digital condition history capable of accompanying a vehicle through different stages of its life.

The concept could have substantial implications for an automotive market where the same car may move between a manufacturer, leasing company, corporate fleet, rental operator, dealer, financing institution, auction and eventually several private owners.

Vehicle history reports have already become a standard part of many used-car transactions. Self Inspection is betting that vehicle condition data could become another permanent digital layer, giving companies a common reference for what happened to a car, when damage appeared and what it could cost to repair.

That distinction is important because recognising a dent or scratch is only part of the commercial challenge. An enterprise-grade platform must generate results sufficiently consistent to support decisions involving leasing contracts, vehicle valuations, insurance, financing, fleet management and remarketing.

The company says its technology has now completed more than one million vehicle inspections across rental fleets, automotive finance companies, auctions and marketplaces. According to Self Inspection, customers have saved more than $80 million — approximately €69 million — and 300,000 operational hours through the platform.

Among its most significant corporate users is Stellantis Financial Services, which uses the technology for corporate-owned vehicles and lease-end inspections. Stellantis' own vehicle programme directs users towards the self-inspection system as part of its vehicle return process.

The relationship also gives Self Inspection an important connection with Europe. Stellantis owns brands including Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel, Alfa Romeo and Jeep, meaning the technology is already being tested within the ecosystem of one of the continent's largest automotive groups.

Europe becomes the next expansion target

The European market offers an attractive environment for the model because of the size of its leasing, rental, fleet-management and used-vehicle industries. Millions of vehicles move through corporate fleets and financing contracts every year, creating repeated inspection points where condition must be established before a vehicle is returned, resold, refinanced or transferred.

Many of those processes remain labour-intensive and fragmented. Inspections can depend on individual assessors, dedicated facilities or inconsistent photographic evidence, while disputes over damage at the end of a rental or lease can generate administrative costs for both businesses and customers.

Self Inspection is attempting to replace that fragmentation with structured data captured through a device virtually every driver already carries.

The company says the new financing will accelerate both its AI and product roadmap and its expansion across North America and Europe. BrightCap has explicitly described its participation as providing a bridge into European markets.

For European automotive companies, the proposition could become particularly relevant as the sector becomes increasingly digital. Leasing companies and lenders need more accurate residual-value information, rental operators want faster vehicle turnaround, dealerships need reliable used-car assessments, and fleet managers are looking for ways to reduce manual processes.

A standardised digital condition record could eventually connect several of those functions. Instead of conducting a completely separate inspection every time a vehicle changes hands, companies could build a continuously updated history of its physical state.

That is also where Self Inspection's investor mix becomes strategically important. Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners provides technology-sector backing, while U.S. AutoForce and Westlake Financial bring direct exposure to automotive distribution and lending. DVx Ventures contributes the experience of former Tesla president Jon McNeill, while BrightCap gives the round a direct European venture-capital connection.

The investors therefore offer something potentially more valuable than capital alone: access to the industries that would actually need to integrate the platform into everyday operations.

For Gaydarzhiev, the new venture also illustrates a broader evolution of artificial intelligence. Some of the most commercially relevant AI applications are moving away from general-purpose demonstrations towards highly specific industrial workflows where automation can directly reduce costs, processing times and disputes.

Vehicle inspections fit that pattern particularly well. The task is repetitive, visually intensive and dependent on standardisation, while errors can have immediate financial consequences.

Self Inspection still faces the challenge of proving that its technology can maintain accuracy across different vehicle types, markets, damage conditions and corporate requirements as it scales internationally. European expansion will also expose the company to a highly fragmented automotive market with different languages, business practices and regulatory environments.

But more than one million completed inspections provide it with a substantial operational base from which to attempt that expansion.

For Europe's automotive industry, the bigger question is whether vehicle condition can become a standardised digital asset in the same way that maintenance and ownership histories already have.

Self Inspection is betting that it can — and with approximately €8.6 million in fresh capital, Sheryl Sandberg among its backers and a Bulgarian investor providing a bridge into Europe, the company is preparing to test that proposition on the European market.