Social media group Facebook announced yesterday it has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Sweden-based street imaging provider Mapillary, enabling corporates Samsung, BMW and NavInfo to exit.
Mapillary runs an online mapping platform where users can view ground-level pictures of cities, countryside and highways across the world. The images are crowdsourced by the company’s online community and tagged using computer vision-based technology.
Facebook plans to incorporate Mapillary’s assets into its own open mapping activities, aiding services like its second-hand goods marketplace and sourcing data for humanitarian agencies.
The deal follows $24.5m in funding for the company, $15m of which was raised through an early 2018 round led by BMW i Ventures, the strategic investment arm of carmaker BMW.
The round included autonomous driving software developer NavInfo, consumer electronics producer Samsung’s Catalyst Fund and existing investors Atomico, Sequoia Capital, PlayFair Capital and LDV Capital. Mapillary’s early backers also include Wellington Partners.