New Investor Fuels CycloMedia’s Growth Ambitions
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New Investor Fuels CycloMedia’s Growth Ambitions

Dutch high-end street imagery specialist CycloMedia is changing hands. After owning the mapping company for the past ten years, Avedon Capital Partners is selling it to British investor Volpi Capital. This is good news in terms of CycloMedia’s ambitious future plans, since an environment of new financial perspectives will foster significant growth in Europe and the USA, the further development of data analytics capabilities and the development of a next-generation image-capture and sensor system.

According to CycloMedia, this transfer of ownership to a new investor comes at precisely the right time. The takeover is first and foremost aimed at ensuring business continuity, so no significant changes will be noticeable in the short term. The company’s main focus will still be on providing a cloud-based solution for street-level imagery and Lidar data with GIS accuracy, captured with an advanced five-camera panoramic image capture system. Behind the scenes, however, the wheels are already in motion to support the Dutch company’s aim of extending its leadership position in high-end capturing of public spaces and related data analytics.

Artificial intelligence

CycloMedia originally started out as a spin-off from the Delft University of Technology in 1980 and, in order to remain innovative, the company’s Research & Development (R&D) department remains an important pillar of the business to this day. One key ambition is to derive even more information from the imagery. That is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play in the form of data analytics – and that is one of the activities that can depend on extra financial support from Volpi Capital when needed. Over the past couple of years, the company has already successfully introduced georeferenced object databases using object recognition and AI analytics.

CycloMedia's rack-mounted camera panoramic image capture system.

Smart city

The smart city concept incorporates various types of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance the quality and performance of urban services and hence the quality of life. A smart city is fuelled by data – collected from citizens, devices and assets – that is processed and analysed to monitor and manage the city. The smart city concept offers interesting opportunities for CycloMedia. Lidar is playing an increasingly important role in urban planning for smart cities and, especially now that Lidar technology is becoming readily available for all CycloMedia customers, many new applications for city authorities are within reach. CycloMedia’s ability to quickly provide customers with actionable insights based on geodata further reinforces the company’s position in relation to the implementation of the smart city concept. In addition, the company helps city authorities to organise their processes in a smooth and efficient way.

Future developments

The continuous innovation of the capturing system is among the top priorities in the company’s ambitious strategy. Besides improving the resolution, the company is now also capturing Lidar and looking at a variety of other possible sensors. Further investment in data analytics capabilities will be key. To successfully execute this strategy CycloMedia will not only develop data analytics tools in-house, but will also pursue an active partnership and acquisition strategy in order to team up with selected partners.

For a complete overview of CycloMedia’s activities and ambitions, read this interview with Frank Pauli, CEO of the company.

CycloMedia LiDAR Point Cloud - US from CycloMedia on Vimeo.

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