Switzerland-based computer vision software developer Scandit secured $80m on Tuesday in a ‘series C-related’ round that included internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, enterprise software provider Salesforce and telecommunications firm Swisscom.
Venture capital firm G2VP led the round, which also featured NGP Capital, the VC firm spun off by communications technology producer Nokia, as well as VC firm Atomico and venture debt provider Kreos Capital.
Alphabet, Salesforce and Swisscom participated through corporate venturing subsidiaries GV, Salesforce Ventures and Swisscom Ventures respectively. The round boosted the company’s funding to $123m since it was founded in 2009.
Scandit has built a machine learning platform that allows enterprises to add features such as augmented reality (AR), object recognition, barcode scanning and text recognition to mobile apps in addition to camera-equipped smart devices like robots or unmanned aerial vehicles.
The cash will fund research and development activities as well as expanding the company’s existing business in Europe and North America and growth in emerging areas such as Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
Samuel Mueller, Scandit’s chief executive, said: “The smartphone is a personal tool that can be deployed with powerful computer vision software to seamlessly interact with everyday objects and display real-time insights with AR-overlays.
“Our new funding makes it possible for us to help even more enterprises to quickly adapt to the new demand for ‘contactless business,’ and be better positioned to succeed, whatever the new normal is.”
GV led Scandit’s last round, a $30m series B in mid-2018 that included NGP Capital and Atomico, the latter having contributed to the company’s $7.5m series A round the previous year. Angel investors including Ariel Luedi had supplied $5.5m in seed capital for Scandit in 2014.
Photo courtesy of Scandit.
