University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund IV has made an investment of undisclosed size in Focal Point Positioning, a UK-based spinout from University of Cambridge that develops global positioning systems (GPS) technology for smartphones.
Founded in 2015, Focal Point is working on GPS tracking units that are designed to work accurately indoors and in congested urban areas, where traditional GPS technology can struggle.
Focal Point’s algorithms combine motion sensor data from the device and radio signals from the GPS to reduce the error range, which is currently the size of a tennis court and thus poses a risk, for example, when emergency services vehicles are unable to pinpoint a caller’s location.
Two products are in development – S-GPS, an upgrade for existing system-on-a-chip software in smartphones designed to improve indoor accuracy, and D-Tail, an activity-tracking application that forms part of the S-GPS system.
D-Tail is being developed as a standalone app for use in wearables and smartphones, allowing users to track their movements in three dimensions.
Parkwalk manages the Enterprise Funds in conjunction with Cambridge Enterprise, the university’s technology transfer office.
Parkwalk invests in University of Cambridge spinouts through the UK’s tax-efficient enterprise investment scheme, while opening them up to private investors.
Focal Point previously raised undisclosed seed funding to build out its team and develop the product, which it said was currently being tested by several major corporates.
