Calgary-based Veerum has revealed that it closed a $12 million CAD Series B funding round on March 26 to help fuel its work on “digital twins,” or highly detailed virtual replicas, for industries like oil, energy, mining, and construction.
“This funding will allow us to enhance our platform’s capabilities, optimize delivery for clients of all sizes, and scale our offering to meet the growing demand for operationalizing digital reality.”
David Lod,
CEO, Veerum
American energy tech investors Emerson Ventures and Veriten led the raise. Existing contributors BDC Capital and Evok Innovations also participated in the round.
Veerum said the funding would help accelerate its plan to become the go-to company for “visual operations,” or managing industrial assets through realistic digital representations. This would include both feature upgrades as well as supporting a wider range of customers.
“This funding will allow us to enhance our platform’s capabilities, optimize delivery for clients of all sizes, and scale our offering to meet the growing demand for operationalizing digital reality,” CEO David Lod said in a statement.
Veriten chief Maynard Holt said his company was “excited” to join the Series B as a company focused on backing “asset-heavy industries” like the energy sector. Emerson Ventures head Thurston Cromwell added that his VC firm felt Veerum was “setting a new standard” for how businesses managed their assets.
Digital twins have been used in numerous fields to better understand buildings, devices, and living beings. Porsche, for instance, developed virtual car copies that could predict part trouble and recommend service only as necessary, rather than at regularly scheduled intervals. Researchers at Japanese telecom giant NTT and elsewhere are working on human digital twins that could help diagnose health issues and even interact with others on your behalf.
RELATED: Waabi develops realism metric to gauge reliability of autonomous vehicle simulators
Holt claimed that Veerum’s technology could let maintenance workers inspect facilities from afar, or let construction crews take a virtual “walk” through a jobsite without the safety risks of visiting in person.
Veerum was founded in 2014. It received $7.4 million in a 2021 Series A round led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund, with Evok, Brick and Mortar Ventures, Creative Ventures, and Intergen also playing roles. At the time, BDC managing partner Joe Regan argued that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for digital twins that could lower costs and boost productivity.
Feature image courtesy Mos Design on Unsplash.