PervasID registers $2.1m

PervasID, a UK-based locational data technology spinout of University of Cambridge, has obtained £1.6m ($2.1m) in series A funding from investors including the university’s tech transfer office Cambridge Enterprise.
The series A round also featured the university’s affiliate patient capital fund Cambridge Innovation Capital, spinout-focused fund manager  Parkwalk Advisors, and Martlet, the corporate venturing arm of aerospace, defence and property group Marshall of Cambridge.
PervasID has also secured a $311,000 grant from government research agency Innovate UK.
Founded in 2011, PervasID markets a locational information technology to retail, healthcare and security clients that works by detecting RFID radio signals from tags affixed to products and other assets.  Clients can use the technology to precisely evaluate customer habits, detect attempted theft and track healthcare patients or apparatus.
The series B funding will allow PervasID to target further product development and an expansion in headcount as it aims to build its market presence.
PervasID was co-founded by CEO Sabesan Sithamparanathan, a former science research fellow at Cambridge, along with Michael Crisp, a fellow of engineering at the same university. Ian White, professor of engineering and deputy vice-chancellor of University of Cambridge, also assisted with the launch, as did Richard Penty, professor of photonics.
Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds had led PervasID’s $950,000 round in 2016, with backing from Cambridge Innovation Capital and the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund IV (UCEF IV), managed by Parkwalk, as well as an unnamed angel investor.
Parkwalk Advisors, which is a division of commercialisation firm IP Group, supplied PervasID with an undisclosed sum from its Opportunities and UCEF V funds in July 2018, though it is unclear whether the commitments form part of the latest round.
– Feature image courtesy of Cambridge Innovation Capital