High-tech startup NavVis, specialised in the digitalisation of indoor spaces, has announced that it has successfully closed its latest funding round of EUR7.5 million. Target Partners and Don Dodge – investment veteran in digital indoor tech and Developer Evangelist at Google – are joining as new investors. MIG Fonds and BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH are increasing their investments.
These days GPS and maps are taken for granted – but not indoors. NavVis develops an innovative technology for the mapping and navigation of indoor spaces. The company provides a platform for end-to-end digitalisation of buildings: From 3D mapping (patent-pending M3 trolley), to visualisation (web-based IndoorViewer), to turn-by-turn navigation (NavVis App). And all this in a fraction of the time previously needed and at a significantly lower cost. The NavVis technology also opens a platform for third-party providers to build innovative services on top of the digitised spaces, with applications spanning from logistics to repair and maintenance, as well as facility management and seamless navigation.
Target Partners invests in highly innovative companies in strong growth markets, which makes them an ideal fit for NavVis, said company founder and managing director Felix Reinshagen. With their products and services in the field of indoor digitalisation, NavVis provides many companies with a major puzzle piece for their ‘Industry 4.0’ strategy. The fresh capital allows NavVis to accelerate growth and to aggressively in-vest in the build out of their technology, Reinshagen stated. Strengthening R&D activities and accelerating production of the trolley therefore are top priorities. Sales and service teams in both Germany and global markets such as China, Japan, the Middle East, and the US will be expanded.
Game-changer
The NavVis technology is easy to use, significantly faster than existing technologies and up to a hundred times more affordable, said Kurt Müller, partner at new investor Target Partners. Müller sees NavVis as a top-notch team that has developed the first end-to-end solution for 3D indoor mapping and navigation.
Don Dodge, developer evangelist at Google, said NavVis is like Google StreetView in 3D for indoors, and will enable hundreds of new applications and businesses. NavVis Indoor location and mapping will have a bigger impact than maps or GPS.
Dr Axel Thierauf, partner at MIG AG, which manages MIG Fonds, stated the company has the potential to become a true game-changer in a highly interesting market. The company, founded in May 2013, is primarily focused on business-to-business applications. Felix Reinshagen said with the company’s technology, they have their sights set on a global market worth billions. Currently, indoor spaces such as factories, offices, museums, shopping centres or airports have barely been digitally captured. Within just one year, NavVis has succeeded in attracting an international base of high profile customers from industries that include automotive, insurance, logistics, transport and retailing. Companies such as Esri, Intershop and Panorama build their own products on the NavVis technology platform.
Turn-by-turn navigation
Another innovation developed by NavVis is turn-by-turn navigation in complex indoor spaces. The corresponding NavVis smartphone app is nearing its market launch and will have some outstanding functionalities. It eliminates the previous necessity of building an infrastructure in the form of additional Wi-Fi hotspots or Bluetooth beacons. Last year, NavVis began a partnership with the Deutsches Museum to digitalise its complex exhibition spaces. The customers retain ownership of their data, which was a key criterion in the Deutsches Museum’s decision to collaborate with NavVis. At present, many of the museum’s popular collections are no longer accessible until 2019 due to extensive renovation work. With the NavVis IndoorViewer, a majority of the building, including these closed collections, can be explored on a tablet or PC, either alone or with an audio guide.
The image shows the founders of NavVIS grouped around the 3D Mapping Trolley. From left to right: Robert Huitl, Sebastian Hilsenbeck, Dr Georg Schroth and Dr Felix Reinshagen.
Read here the article Mapping Indoor Spaces with an Advanced Trolley. This article was originally published in the September 2015 issue of GIM International.
About NavVis
NavVis was developed at the Department for Media Technology at the Technische Universität München (TUM). Its most important supporters include the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at TUM, UnternehmerTUM, BayStartUP (formerly evobis), ESA, and the Center for Digital Technology & Manage-ment (CDTM) at Ludwig-Maximilian University and TUM. Over the past year, NavVis has rapidly grown from 20 to more than 60 employees.
Source: GIM International