How City Detect is Helping American Cities Fix Blight Proactively

City Detect, revolutionizing the way local governments understand and interact with their built environment, led by Gavin Baum-Blake, Bjorn Hansen, Jonathan Richardson, Comer Jennings, and the team, has announced a $13 million Series A funding round led by Prudence, with continued participation from Las Olas Venture Capital, Zeal Capital, Knoll Ventures, Atlanta Seed Co, and others.

The investment will support expansion into public works departments, deepen integrations with municipal software platforms, and scale the PASS AI™ platform across cities in the United States.

“City Detect’s customers didn’t just use the product; they actively advocated for it. Municipalities are responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure, and City Detect’s AI is transforming how that work is done. This funding will help expand those productivity gains to public sector teams facing growing challenges and tight budgets,” said Gavin Myers, Managing Partner at Prudence.

Cities face a growing challenge monitoring urban blight, from graffiti and illegal dumping to property decay, while code enforcement teams rely largely on citizen complaints. A typical officer files about 50 reports per week, while City Detect’s PASS AI™ platform can generate thousands of insights daily.

The system mounts high-resolution cameras on municipal fleet vehicles such as garbage trucks and street sweepers. Computer vision models detect more than 100 signs of urban deterioration, including graffiti, storm damage, debris, and overgrown lots. The graffiti models can even distinguish vandalism from sanctioned murals.

Findings are delivered through a mapped dashboard that reduces fieldwork by over 25%. In cities like Cathedral City and Stockton, personalized notices with photographic evidence have driven strong voluntary compliance, 40% on the first notice and up to 80% overall in Stockton’s RISE program.

Founded in 2021, City Detect grew 4× in 2025 and now serves cities including Dallas, Cleveland, Stockton, Cathedral City, and Miami-Dade County. In Stockton, its PASS AI™ platform detected more than 4,000 code violations across 2,500 properties in a single week.

Previously, Cleveland spent $170,000 and deployed 40 officers over six months to complete a citywide property survey. A single City Detect–equipped vehicle can now cover the same area in just weeks. The platform has also been used for rapid disaster assessments, helping Greenville, South Carolina, evaluate storm damage after Hurricane Helene.

Officials say the platform acts as a force multiplier for understaffed code enforcement teams. Justin Gardiner of Cathedral City called it transformative, while Newport News Code Enforcement Director Harold Roach said it helps cities direct limited officers to the problems that matter most.

City Detect CEO and Co-Founder Gavin Baum-Blake, a U.S. Army veteran and licensed attorney, founded the company after observing how municipalities struggled to address urban blight with outdated tools and overstretched teams.

“By using vehicles already driving city streets and applying AI to analyze what they see, we can deliver thousands of insights to cities each day rather than just dozens,” said Baum-Blake. “The goal is to give city leaders trusted, actionable data so they can address issues before they escalate.”

City Detect was built on the belief that technology should serve communities, not extract from them. The platform blurs faces and license plates since they are not relevant to identifying built-environment issues. The company is SOC 2 Type II compliant, operates under a Responsible AI policy, and is a member of the GovAI Coalition, which includes more than 1,000 members and 350 government agencies.

Urban blight is not an abstract policy issue. It appears in vacant lots near schools, abandoned properties that reduce home values, and graffiti that signals neglect. City Detect aims to ensure these problems are identified and addressed before they spread.

The $13 million Series A will support City Detect’s sales expansion and partnerships with new local governments across the United States. The company will also launch new solutions for public works departments, including infrastructure asset detection and post-storm damage assessment.