Switzerland-based data capture technology developer Scandit closed a $150m series D round yesterday featuring internet technology group Alphabet, consumer electronics manufacturer Sony, telecommunications firm Swisscom and energy equipment provider Schneider Electric.
The round was led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus at a valuation above $1bn and included NGP Capital, the venture capital firm sponsored by smartphone maker Nokia, as well as Atomico, Forestay Capital, G2VP and Kreos Capital.
Alphabet, Sony and Swisscom invested through GV, Sony Innovation Fund by IGV and Swisscom Ventures respectively.
Spun out of ETH Zurich, Scandit has developed data capture technology that enables devices such as smartphones, drones, digital glasses or robots to recognise and scan barcodes, text, identity tags and objects, even in challenging light conditions, at angles, on damaged labels and across several labels at once.
The company will use the series D funding to grow its international presence and team, with a focus on the Asia Pacific region, and to accelerate research and development activities.
Samuel Mueller, Scandit’s chief executive, said, “By following our original vision of using the camera on smart devices to interact with physical items, we are transforming the daily lives of customers, employees and businesses to enable enhanced, personalised experiences and achieve their digital transformation ambitions.
“The new funding will allow us to help more businesses globally and to better empower an evolving mobile workforce, meet new customer expectations and deliver increasingly automated operations.
Scandit said it has now raised nearly $300m altogether. G2VP led its $80m series C round in May 2020, when it was joined by Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing arm for enterprise software provider Salesforce, in addition to GV, NGP Capital, Swisscom Ventures, Atomico and Kreos Capital.
GV led a $30m series B round for the company in 2018, investing alongside NGP Capital and Atomico. The latter had been the only named investor in Scandit’s $7.5m series A round the previous year.
Photo courtesy of Scandit. The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
