UK-based SenSat, a company that converts complex visual and spatial data into a real-time simulated reality that allows computers to find solutions to real-world problems, has raised $10 million through a Series A investment round, which was led by Shenzhen-based internet giant Tencent.
Sistema Venture Capital also took part in SenSat’s latest funding round.
SenSat’s proprietary technology creates ‘digital twins’ of locations, which are accurate and up-to-date representations of real-world objects in a machine-readable format. This allows industries, such as infrastructure, to accurately analyze problems and develop effective solutions for large projects. This results in significant improvements in safety and reduces waste generation.
SenSat’s cloud-based technology also helps companies develop cost-effective solutions and reduce the amount of carbon generated by their project.
SenSat refers to its technology as ”Visual Intelligence,” which is a subset of artificial intelligence (AI) that’s focused on teaching computers how to interpret and interact with the real world.
SenSat’s technology simulates realities and replicates real-world locations in real-time, which helps in analyzing visual and spatial data. This allows users to “make smarter, faster and safer decisions based on real-world information,” the company states.
Co-founder and CEO of SenSat James Dean noted:
“SenSat has a simple but profound goal: to build the third platform, an intelligent ecosystem that translates the real world into a version understandable to AI. This technology will help us to build a more sustainable future, using the wealth of new insight to help humans make better decisions.”
Tencent founder and CEO Pony Ma stated:
“We believe the first stage of the internet, the consumer internet, is drawing to a close, and the second stage, the industrial internet, is kicking off. SenSat are really well-positioned to introduce mass digital automation to traditionally offline industries that have not yet partaken in the digital revolution.”
SenSat’s Mapp platform allows infrastructure developers to digitally interact with their workplaces by allowing digital automation to help them make informed decisions with real-word information.
There are over 30 international infrastructure firms that regularly use the Mapp platform. SenSat recently digitized a 52 km underground transmission line, which was part of the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm project. The digitization helped in reducing the time spent on site by 200%, the company revealed.
If we completely digitize real-world locations, then it would allow us to improve the planning for large infrastructure projects that need buildings, bridges, and tunnels. Approximately $94 trillion in global infrastructure investment is needed by 2040, in order to maintain current growth predictions, however, infrastructure remains one of the least digitized areas in the world economy.