Chinese search expert Baidu led the series A round.
IndoorAtlas, an indoor mapping company spun out of Oulo University, has secured $10m in its series A round. The round was led by Baidu, a China-based online search expert.
The investment includes an agreement for Baidu to become the spin-out’s sole licensee in the People’s Republic. This gives IndoorAtlas access to one of the world’s largest single economies and Baidu the ability to customise and integrate the technology into its Baidu Maps software.
IndoorAtlas previously closed a $4.5m seed round in June 2014, which was led by Texas-based Mobility Ventures and the Finnish seed fund KoppiCatch. The spin-out’s valuation remains undisclosed.
The Finnish spin-out plans to use the latest investment to fund research and development, as well as expand engineering and business development in the US, Europe and Asia. The company currently has offices in Finland and in California.
IndoorAtlas’s technology exploits the discovery that buildings have a unique magnetic fingerprint. This fingerprint is caused by the steel in buildings distorting the Earth’s magnetic field. Different amounts of steel, as well as changes in the magnetic field at different points on the globe, make each building’s distortion unique. Equally, the distance from the ground matters, so the software knows which floor a user is on. The location is accurate to within six feet.
Janne Haverinen, founder and CEO at IndoorAtlas, said: “We are excited to have an internet company like Baidu as our partner as we grow and expand our footprint. With this partnership, we now have access to over 1.34 billion potential subscribers in one go. We see this as a huge opportunity not just to make a mark in Asia, but globally, and to make indoor location services ubiquitous and available to everyone.”
