A Bath firm producing digital maps that stop passengers getting lost in busy airports and missing their flights has received further investment to roll out the technology across the world.
Living Map, which was founded in 2010 by urban design consultant Tim Fendley and now employs more than 25 people, will also use the funding to continue to develop its pioneering smart city digital maps as well as its expanding into the healthcare market.
The firm has produced digital mapping systems for Canary Wharf in London, Heathrow Airport and New York’s MET Museum of Art. More recently it has designed a system to help key workers navigate their way efficiently around Bath and the Royal United Hospital.
The latest £850,000 funding has come from existing investors Committed Capital and Mercia Asset Management and follows two earlier rounds in 2018 and 2019. It brings the total raised by the company so far to more than £4.5m.
Living Map’s software allows companies to locate and track assets or people in real time and, unlike other mapping products, can operate seamlessly across both outdoor and indoor spaces.
In particular Living Map is a leader in indoor location services and its technology offers greater accuracy without the need for expensive additional hardware.
Living Map’s technology can be integrated with sensors or other monitoring systems – for example to track high-value medical equipment within a hospital, track components in large manufacturing plants or map air quality in different parts of a city.
Its airport ‘digital connection service’ can guide transit passengers to help them make time-critical flight connections without the need for a staff member to assist them.
The digital app is already being used by Singapore Airlines and, while implementation has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, further roll-outs are planned for next year and beyond.
The global digital map market is expected to be worth $7.2bn (£5.35bn) by 2023. This growth is fuelled by the emergence of map technologies as an essential enabler of multiple consumer and business applications, from navigating cities to visualising live asset data generated by Internet of Things (IoT) sensors.
Living Map CEO Dominic Hazlehurst said: “We are delighted with the considerable support we have received from our investors.
“With the opportunities that are available to us across our key industry verticals and armed with the technology to realise them, we anticipate an incredibly exciting period in the business’s development next year and beyond.”
Committed Capital investor director for Living Map, Else Thomson, said while the effect of Covid-19 has had significant short-term consequences for Living Map, the firm believed the underlying technology and strategy longer term was well worth supporting.
Mercia was investing from its EIS funds under management. Investment director Julian Dennard said: “Living Map’s technology takes digital mapping to the next level. The company has made great progress in expanding its client base, with notable success in the airport sector.
“This funding will support its ongoing business development activity in healthcare and ‘smart cities’, allowing it to build momentum in the post-pandemic era.”
