London, UK – May 10th 2017 – SLAMcore, the developer of tracking and mapping algorithms for robotics and augmented/virtual reality systems, today announced that it has secured seed funding from Amadeus Capital Partners, SPARX Group and others, alongside existing shareholder Imperial Innovations.
SLAMcore is a spin-out from Imperial College London that specialises in addressing the longstanding problem faced when a moving robot or device with outward-looking sensors is put in an unknown space where it must localise, navigate and understand in order to achieve a task, otherwise known as ‘Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping’ (SLAM).
The SLAMcore founding team have been pioneering SLAM algorithms for over 20 years. They have built multi-sensor systems using standard cameras, depth cameras, inertial measurement units and, most recently, a next generation sensor known as the ‘Event Camera’. The seed investment will enable SLAMcore to grow its team and fully commercialise the application of these algorithms.
Owen Nicholson, SLAMcore CEO, said, “This recent investment will allow us to grow the team and make our cutting-edge algorithms available as a commercial solution. Our technology is the key to unlocking the true potential of many high growth markets including autonomous vehicles, mobile robotics and AR/VR.”
Professor Andrew Davison, SLAMcore Director and Co-founder, added “Achieving high performance SLAM on a wide range of smart devices is a challenge which requires a new level of algorithms designed to take the constraints of real products into account. Our SLAM solutions, and especially our focus on novel sensing and processing hardware, will deliver a new level of performance and efficiency.”
Amelia Armour, Investment Manager, Early Stage Funds at Amadeus Capital, commented: “The SLAMcore solution has the potential to hugely improve the spatial awareness and responsiveness of technologies that are becoming essential for both companies and individuals. We are excited to support the founders with their strong track record in both academic research and business innovation.”
Shuhei Abe, President & CEO, SPARX Group Co. Ltd, said: “We expect SLAMcore’s low power SLAM technology will accelerate the practical realization for an autonomous car and robots in near the future. We are very pleased and excited to support them.”
Dr Govind Pindoria, Director, Venture Support Unit at Imperial Innovations said: “We are delighted to see the progress that SLAMcore is making. Imperial College London is a pioneer for SLAM solutions and this investment round underlines growing industry interest in the field. Having supported the process of forming SLAMcore it is gratifying to see its development continue.”
For more information please visit www.slamcore.com.
About Amadeus Capital Partners
Amadeus Capital Partners is a global technology investor. Since 1997, the firm has backed more than 120 companies and raised over $1bn for investment.
With vast experience and a great network, Amadeus Capital’s team of investors and entrepreneurs share a passion for the transformative power of technology. We invest in consumer services, financial technology, artificial intelligence, cyber security, medical technology, digital health and digital media.
Early stage investments we’ve made include genomic research data collaboration platform Repositive, massively parallel simulation platform Improbable.io, Graphcore, innovators in intelligent microprocessors, and speech recognition company VocalIQ.
To learn more visit https://amadeuscapital.com follow us at @AmadeusCapital.