Tracsis, a leading UK provider of software and services for the traffic data and transportation industry, has made a strategic investment of up to £1.3m (US$1.6m) 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.
London-based Vivacity has developed novel machine learning software and sensor technology that it has applied to solve a wide range of traffic and transport issues, most specifically for the automatic counting and classification of pedestrian and vehicle flows in a variety of environments. Over the past 12 months, the business has 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 Smart Cities grant with a value of £1.7m (US$2.1m). Adoption of the Vivacity technology has the potential for Tracsis to significantly reduce its existing costs for processing video footage within the Traffic & 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 a broader investment round for Vivacity, Tracsis has agreed to invest up to £1m (US$1.2m) via a tranched equity funding (subject to performance milestones) in return for 23.3% of the enlarged share capital of Vivacity. In addition, Tracsis has been granted a warrant to subscribe for a further 4.8% of the then enlarged share capital for an additional £300,000 (US$373,000). A Tracsis executive will join Vivacity’s board of directors 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 lead investor.
Currently exhibiting at Traffex, Tracsis’ Traffic & Data Services Division is a leading international provider of transport survey, market research, training, consultancy and data capture services. The company collects, analyzes and reports data for transport planners, transport operators, highway authorities, and data users. The division uses industry-leading technology across the full range of automatic and manual data collection techniques, and provides high-level consultancy advice and training to and for transport professionals.
“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,” commented Tracsis’s CEO, 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.”
Mark Nicholson, CEO of Vivacity Labs, said, “We are pleased to join forces with Tracsis having worked with them for some time now on joint projects. 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.”
