Kognitiv Spark Raises $4.7-Million In Latest Funding Round
FREDERICTON–Augmented reality technology firm Kognitiv Spark has closed its latest investment round. Foresight Group, a private equity and infrastructure investment manager, has pledged $4.2-million (CAD) in growth capital to the Fredericton company.
Kognitiv Spark also announced on March 10 that the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has invested $500,000 in additional growth capital.
The combined investment will help the company to expand with new sales and marketing teams in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as support ongoing product development.
“The investment level by Foresight signifies not only to us, but the mixed reality sector as a whole, that the time is now to focus on growth and solidifying our place in the market,” said Yan Simard, CEO for Kognitiv Spark.
Poised for 2022 Growth
Simard confirmed to Huddle that the new investment is in line with a recruitment initiative announced last month that will help Kognitiv Spark build more capacity in North America, the UK, and Europe.
Having seen growth in the Americas, the company announced February 20 it was in the midst of an ambitious recruitment drive that will increase its global workforce, on both sides of the Atlantic, from 25 to 41.
Simard called the decision to expand to the U.K. “a strategic and natural next step in Kognitiv Spark’s growth trajectory.” He said it’s clear the market in the U.K. was ready for the type of technology Kognitiv Spark has become known for.
“We feel confident that now is the right time for us to expand our operations and to support this, we are very pleased to make new hires both in Canada and in the UK,” Simard said.
Last month also saw Kognitiv Spark open its first UK office, located in Oxfordshire at Harwell Campus, the UK’s leading science and innovation park.
The company has also been steadily commercializing software to provide 3D data to support field service workers in remote locations, technology that gained popularity during the pandemic.
Its trademark RemoteSpark augmented reality software uses holographic visualization along with collaboration and connectivity tools to connect subject matter experts with technicians on the ground.
The software is the only commercially available solution that allows real-time sharing of 3D data over defence-grade security and can maintain a stable video connection even in low bandwidth environments.
The company is eager to expand toward industries that are slowed by complex installation and maintenance of assets in the field and often require expert teams to travel great distances.
While virtual reality (VR) is fairly well-known today, augmented reality (AR) users can go further–actually controlling their presence in the real world.
While VR requires a headset, AR can present various types of digital information, objects, or media in the real world through a smartphone or headset. Elements in the field can both appear as a flat graphical overlay or can behave as a seemingly real, 3D object.
RemoteSpark consists of a desktop application and an application that runs on an AR device.
When a call is made between the two devices, it provides the desk-based expert with a live stream of the workers’ point of view to help solve problems.
The expert can also share PDF documents, 3D images, and animations in real time and makes use of voice-controlled operation, making it easier for the worker to complete tasks when connected.
AR’s rapid potential by decade’s end
The global mixed reality market was estimated to be worth $17-billion (USD) a year in 2020 and is forecast to grow to $85-billion a year in 2025.
Within that market, a 2019 PwC UK report calculated mixed reality software is expected to reach annual revenues of $32-billion by 2026 as demand grows for digitization of industrial data and support requirements for an increasingly remote workforce.
Both VR and AR have the potential to deliver a $1.5-trillion boost to the global economy by 2030, according to a follow-up PwC report: Seeing Is Believing.
It notes that while neither VR nor AR are new technologies, there are two overarching trends that can ensure their use grows considerably: the business benefits they can deliver are now richer and more attractive, and technological advances are creating an improved user experience.
The 2020 report also gave examples of how bringing far-flung experts together into a single virtual space can have a major impact on how fast new products are developed. It noted some automotive companies are using virtual reality platforms to cut design time on products from weeks to days.
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].