Computer vision-enabled barcode scanning, text & object recognition, and augmented reality R&D will be focus areas for the Switzerland-based company to direct its Series C funds.
The need for contactless transactions is evident now more than ever, and organizations in retail and other sectors are rushing to understand and possibly implement a contactless environment for all stakeholders, including customers and employees in order to abide by the social distancing norms set for personal as well as societal safety and health. This can amplify the demand and IT spending by organizations for digital transformation, especially in the areas of contactless transactions. Technologies such as computer vision for barcode scanning and augmented reality can help replace the physical involvement in activities like shopping, checkout, inventory management, proof of delivery, asset tracking and maintenance, through multiple devices, including a camera smartphone.
These computer vision-enabled technologies, expected to reach $33.5 billion in market value by 2025Opens a new window , have a multitude of use cases, of which Scandit aims to capture text & object recognition, barcode scanning and augmented reality market with its new investment. The company raised $80 million in its Series C round led by G2VP. With the new investment, Scandit will operationalize expansion activities across its North America and Europe, while expediting growth in new Asia-Pacific and Latin America markets. Business expansion will be complemented by greater product support with sustained research & development on their mobile computer vision and augmented reality tech for enterprise digital transformation.
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CEO and Co-Founder of Scandit, Samuel Mueller said in a blog postOpens a new window , “Looking ahead, we will use the new funding to continue to invest in scalable computer vision and AR technology to deliver more innovation, more use cases and more value for our existing and future customers.â€
The company recently releasedOpens a new window the Scandit Barcode Scanner and OCR SDK 6.3
Other participants in the investment include previous investors Atomico, GV and NGP Capital, as well as new investors Kreos, Salesforce Ventures and Swisscom Ventures. GV led the company’s Series BOpens a new window round of investment in 2018, which in addition to the Series A and C takes the total investment in Scandit so far to $123 million.
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Ben Kortlang, General Partner at G2VP saidOpens a new window , “This bridge between the physical and digital worlds will be increasingly critical as the world accelerates its shift to online purchasing and delivery, distributed supply chains and cashierless retail.†Scandit’s technology is compatible with drones, wearables, robots and most importantly, any camera equipped smartphone. Ben Kortland added “Scandit’s platform puts an enterprise-grade scanning solution in the pocket of every employee and customer without requiring legacy hardware.â€
While smartphone-driven mobile computer vision serves as an enabler of scalability and rapid deployment of business models like click and collect, bring your own device etc., security and IT sec ops teams are also learning to understand the security aspectOpens a new window s of the technology and how it can impact business and data security concerns.
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