The high-tech startup NavVis, specialized in the digitalization of indoor spaces, has just announced that it has successfully closed its latest funding round of €7.5 million. Target Partners and Don Dodge (Developer Evangelist at Google) are joining as new investors. MIG Fonds and BayBG are increasing their investments.
People take GPS and maps for granted these days, but not indoor spaces. NavVis develops an innovative technology for the mapping and navigation of indoor spaces. The Munich-based company provides the platform for end-to-end digitalization of buildings:
- 3D mapping (patent-pending M3 trolley);
- visualization (web-based IndoorViewer);
- turn-by-turn navigation (NavVis App – navigation in complex indoor spaces). Navigation app is going to launch soon and 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 digitalize 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. Majority of the building including these closed collections can be explored on a tablet or PC with the NavVis IndoorViewer. Check it out here.
The company was founded in May 2013 and is primarily focused on business-to-business applications. 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 & Management (CDTM) at Ludwig-Maximilian University and TUM. Over the past year, NavVis has rapidly grown from 20 to more than 60 employees.
NavVis founder and Managing Director Felix Reinshagen: “We have our sights set with our technology on a global market worth billions. Currently, indoor spaces such as factories, offices, museums, shopping centers or airports have barely been digitally captured. NavVis has succeeded in attracting an international base of high profile customers within just one year from industries including automotive, insurance, logistics, transport and retailing. Companies such as ESRI, Intershop and Panorama build their own products on our technology platform.”
“The NavVis technology is easy to use, significantly faster than existing technologies and up to a hundred times more affordable,” assures Kurt Müller, Partner at new investor Target Partners. “We are excited to invest in a top-notch team that has developed the first end-to-end solution for 3D indoor mapping and Navigation.”
