PervasID secures £720k investment

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund IV, managed by Parkwalk, and Cambridge Innovation Capital have, together with a private investor, invested £720k in PervasID, a spin-out from the University of Cambridge Engineering Department.

PervasID was founded in 2011 by Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan, Dr Michael Crisp, Professor Ian White and Professor Richard Penty. The company has developed a passive UHF RFID reader technology that enables highly reliable reading of standard, off-the-shelf passive UHF RFID tags. The technology can also provide location information for the tags within a wide area read zone. PervasID’s technology achieves almost 100 per cent detection over areas of up to 400 square meters and can scale up to much larger areas such as shops and warehouses.

The Company already has significant engagement with customers in several sectors, including retail, security and logistics. A study published by IDTechEx predicted that the RFID reader market would grow from $2.5bn in 2015 to $7.5bn in 2020.

Sithamparanathan Sabesan, CEO of PervasID, said “We are extremely delighted to have successfully closed the funding round. Cambridge Enterprise, Cambridge Innovation Capital and our private investor bring not only funding, but also complementary skills and expertise. This will enable us to take the business to the next level and to deliver on short term sales opportunities.”

Elaine Loukes, Investment Manager at Cambridge Enterprise, added “PervasID has made very impressive technical and commercial progress to date—borne out by its current high level engagement with major high-street retailers. With these Funds, we believe the Company will be able to accelerate its sales pipeline whilst developing its next-generation products.”

Victor Christou, CEO of Cambridge Innovation Capital commented “Low cost, long distance sensing of passive RFID tags has long been an unmet need in the retail and logistics industries. PervasID addresses this need and represents another fundamental technology game-changer emerging from the University of Cambridge.”

Alasdair Kilgour, CIO of Parkwalk, said: “We are impressed with the degree and nature of the commercial engagement already underway. We are also attracted to the company’s level of ambition. PervasID has a vision to become a leader in low-cost, accurate wireless tracking and sensing and also create a sustainable business through developing a pipeline of next-generation products.”

Image credit: Walking the Line in the VAB by Bill Dickinson via flickr