Montreal-based advanced vision startup Immervision has landed a $5.7-million CAD contract from Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). The money is for the design and development of panoramic imaging components and systems.
Public Services and Procurement Canada awarded the contract on behalf of DRDC’s Valcartier Research Centre, Immervision told BetaKit. The contract came in response to a competitive request for proposals seeking support for the design, analysis, simulation, and development of panoramic imaging components and systems with a horizontal field of view of 80 degrees or more.
As the science and technology organization of the Department of National Defence, it develops and delivers new technical solutions and advice to the DND, the Canadian Armed Forces, and other federal departments.
Immervision invents, customizes, and licenses wide-angle lenses for highly complex applications such as aerospace cameras, stratospheric balloons as well as commercial applications ranging from video surveillance, and action cameras, to automotive, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile phones.
“The objective of the collaboration is for Immervision to provide professional support for optical design, prototyping, testing, metrology, and image processing, among other essential aspects related to panoramic optical technologies,” said Pascale Nini, president and chief executive at Immervision.
Immervision said the contract highlights the startup’s industry expertise when it comes to creating solutions that offer an extended field of view in all environments, which the company says is vital for situational awareness and operational effectiveness.
The DRDC is Canada’s science, technology and innovation leader, advisor, collaborative partner, and knowledge integrator for defence and security. As the science and technology organization of the Department of National Defence (DND), it develops and delivers new technical solutions and advice to the DND, the Canadian Armed Forces, and other federal departments.
The DRDC is not Immervision’s first military contract. Immervision worked on developing a wide-angle computer vision camera for small unmanned aerial systems in 2020 for the Defence Innovation Unit, part of the United States Department of Defense.
Ceva, a US-based licenser of wireless connectivity and smart-sensing technologies, entered into a strategic partnership with Immervision in 2019. At the time, Immervision claimed its technologies had shipped in more than 50 million devices to date through its broad customer base, which includes Acer, Garmin, Hanwha, Lenovo, Motorola, Quanta, Sony, and Vivotek.
The partnership agreement consisted of Ceva making a $10-million USD technology investment to secure exclusive licensing rights to Immervision’s advanced portfolio of patented wide-angle image-processing technology and software.
Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of Ceva, said at the time: “This strategic partnership and technology investment with Immervision provides Ceva with a significant market advantage for the fast growing wide-angle camera market, particularly in smartphones, surveillance, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and robotics.”
Founded in 2000, Immervision claims that it develops advanced wide-angle optics with enhanced image processing and sensor fusion technologies. The startup maintains that its Deep Seeing technology rests on several commercially ready patented technology breakthroughs, including wide-angle optics with panomorph vision for augmented resolution and viewing.
Currently Immervision has more than 20 employees, including optical designers, camera system engineers, and computer vision and AI scientists.
As a private company, Immervision said it did not disclose specific details about its financing rounds, including the amount raised and the types of funding.
Feature image courtesy Immervision.