The venture capital arm of industrial technology company Emerson has backed a C$12 million (US$8.5 million) private funding round by Veerum, a Canadian firm advancing digital reality capture products that dovetail with the high-growth digital twin market.
“[Veerum’s] innovative approach to delivering reality-based visualisations and supporting the digital asset management ecosystem is transforming the way people work and collaborate,” said Thurston Cromwell, head of Emerson Ventures.
Energy-tech investor Veriten and existing investors BDC Capital and Evok Innovations also supported the Veerum funding round.
“Our newest investors share the passion in creating this category of visual operations and they are selecting the strongest companies with the most potential to make these changes in the world,” Veerum CEO David Lod said.
“This funding will allow us to enhance our platform’s capabilities, optimise delivery for clients of all sizes and scale our offering to meet the growing demand for operationalising digital reality.”
Veerum chief technology officer Rob Southon said only 5-10% of industry workers had access to reality capture. The company wanted to help lift that to more than 90% at client organisations and “make it common practice across all industries”.
“By having access to current site conditions we are de-risking unplanned events for industrial asset owners,” Southon said. “Events like mechanical or equipment failures, severe weather and sensor failures result in hours, days or weeks of lost production, costing asset owners millions of dollars in lost production each year.”
With a decade of experience delivering reality-first digital twin solutions Veerum was positioned to become a leader in operationalising reality capture data for critical infrastructure, Southon said. The digital twin market was experiencing rapid growth, with market analysts projecting 30-to-40% annual growth over the next few years. McKinsey had it reaching $150 billion by 2032.
“Veerum’s platform allows organisations to remotely visualise and interact with their operations in ways that were previously unimaginable,” said Veriten CEO Maynard Holt.
“Construction teams can virtually walk through job sites before setting foot on location, dramatically improving safety and reducing field exposure. Maintenance crews can inspect assets and plan work from anywhere, cutting down on unnecessary travel. And by structuring and sharing reality capture data, Veerum makes it easier for teams to collaborate, manage information and drive smarter decisions in real time.”
