Software and traffic data firmTracsis has invested up to £1.3m into Vivacity Labs, a provider of smart, hyperlocal data for smart cities and intelligent transport systems, in return for up to a 28.1% equity stake.
The AIM-traded company said Vivacity developed novel machine learning software and sensor technology which is applied to solve a wide range of traffic and transport issues.
These are most specifically for the automatic counting and classification of pedestrian and vehicle flows in a variety of environments.
“We are delighted to have agreed this investment into Vivacity Labs and are excited by the potential of this technology both for our business and the wider traffic and transport market,” said Tracsis chief executive John McArthur.
“The potential of machine learning technology is very significant and the Vivacity offering is highly complementary to our traffic and data services division.”
In the past 12 months the business secured a number of client wins and pilot projects with local governments, infrastructure owners and transport providers and in March was successful in winning a significant Smart Cities grant with a value of £1.7 million.
Tracsis said adoption of the Vivacity technology had the potential for it to significantly reduce its existing costs for processing video footage within its traffic and data services division, while also leading to improvements in operational performance such as increased accuracy of traffic counts and the reduction of turnaround times for clients.
As part of the broader investment round for Vivacity, Tracsis agreed to invest up to £1.0m via a tranched equity funding – subject to performance milestones – in return for 23.3% of the enlarged share capital of Vivacity.
In addition, Tracsis was granted a warrant to subscribe for a further 4.8% of the then-enlarged share capital for an additional £0.3m.
A Tracsis executive will join the Vivacity board to help further grow the business and promote their offering to the Tracsis customer base.
The investment round also included Downing Ventures EIS Fund and the London Co-Investment Fund, with Tracsis being the lead investor.
“We are pleased to join forces with Tracsis having worked with them for some time now on joint projects,” said Vivacity chief executive Mark Nicholson.
“The combination of Tracsis’ experience and extensive customer list, combined with our technology makes for a great partnership.
“With this investment in place and the support of Tracsis, we look forward to accelerating our penetration into the market.”