KITCHENER — Telus Ventures is heading up a $120-million minority investment in Miovision, a Kitchener, Ont.-based company that uses computer vision, artificial intelligence and advanced modelling to offer cities a modernized approach to traffic management.
The Telus Ventures investment was supported by a syndicate of investors led by McRock Capital and includes both new investors and existing investors who chose to increase their support for Miovision, the company said in its news release.
This funding will help Miovision to accelerate the growth of its smart traffic platform, hiring the talent needed to quickly develop new product capabilities and bring them to market, the company says. Miovision aims to hire more than 100 new employees in 2020, increasing its Canadian workforce by 50%, the release says.
As part of its investment, Telus will become the preferred wireless provider for Miovision worldwide. Leveraging Telus’ dedicated IoT network, purpose-built for IoT connected devices, Miovision-equipped traffic signals will allow cities to remotely access, analyze, and action data generated at intersections, Miovision explains.
“Telus is taking bold steps to improve the lives of Canadians by investing in Smart City technology that will connect and empower municipalities to build stronger, safer communities,” said Rich Osborn, managing partner, Telus Ventures, in the release. “With our investment and Miovision’s technology, we can further advance our goal of enabling remarkable human outcomes for Canadians — and citizens around the world — by easing traffic congestion, reducing carbon emissions and making intersections safer for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.”
Telus will hold two positions on Miovision’s board of directors, joining existing board members that include McRock’s Whitney Rockley, and early investors MacKinnon, Bennett & Co.’s Ken MacKinnon and former BlackBerry vice-president of strategic alliances Chris Wormald.
Miovision was established in 2005, bringing to market a portable product that gathers and analyzes traffic data. In 2017, Miovision launched its smart traffic platform, which allowed cities to modernize their existing analogue traffic signals by adding connectivity and video-based, multimodal traffic measurement and analysis, the release says.
Miovision has achieved a revenue CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 37.4% over the last 10 years, according to the release. Its products have processed more than 23 million hours of traffic video, counting more than nine billion vehicles in the process, the company says.
During this fourth round of funding for the company, RBC Capital Markets acted as Miovision’s exclusive private placement agent. Three previous rounds of investment totalled $45 million.
