Humatics, the leader in microlocation technology, has secured $30 million in Series B funding to scale its submillimeter Milo Microlocation System and increase its footprint in the transit industry with its proprietary Rail Navigation System, among other investments, company leadership announced today.
Blackhorn Ventures led the funding round, with Tenfore Holdings, Fontinalis Partners, Airbus Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, and Presidio Ventures following suit. The $30 million infusion grows the company’s funding by a third, bringing its total raised to over $80 million.
“This visionary $30 million investment will help bring Humatics microlocation technology to scale across the globe,” said David Mindell, CEO of Humatics. “Microlocation technology is useful especially now, as we try to keep each other safe by providing space and keeping people and goods moving. We are grateful to Blackhorn and our other investors for sharing that vision.”
“We’re excited to lead the Series B round and invest in the Humatics team,” said Trevor Zimmerman, managing partner of Blackhorn Ventures. “Humatics’ focus on developing location and navigation technology for the transit space and millimeter scale precise positioning technology for manufacturing, logistics, construction and medical unlocks unprecedented collaboration between humans, machines and infrastructure. We look forward to working with the Humatics team to leverage the tremendous success they’ve had with their Rail Navigation System and Microlocation System.”
Humatics proprietary Milo Microlocation System has broad uses across the manufacturing, logistics, industrial equipment, healthcare and construction spaces, helping to identify with millimeter precision where objects are in relation to each other, facilitating seamless collaboration between people, machines, robots and infrastructure. In manufacturing, the technology improves the speed and accuracy of autonomous lineside delivery, making it possible for lineside workers to take on other high-value tasks, and to facilitate tool endpoint tracking for faster, and better-quality assembly procedures. For other markets such as healthcare, construction, and security, Humatics envisions this technology fundamentally transforming how we conduct surgeries, manage secure spaces and utilize construction tools to make sure everything goes according to plan.
In transportation, Humatics Rail Navigation System improves transit vehicle navigation and positioning which helps trains run closer together, speeding up throughput and improving safety in some of the nation’s busiest urban environments. These upgrades are proving critical as transit systems recover from Covid-19 slowdowns.
Humatics recently completed a successful pilot project to install its ultra-wideband technology on 5.5 miles of track in New York City’s subway system. The pilot showcased the technology’s durability, ease of installation, and potential to speed train throughput in one of the busiest transportation networks on the globe. For more information on Humatics’ work on the MTA UWB Pilot, see here.
With this new funding, Humatics will also expand its talent pool. The company hired former Cisco executive Shawn Henry as SVP of Product and Engineering at the end of 2019 and he was recently promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. In June of 2020, the company brought on Joffrey Lauthier as Director of Sales, Rail and Transit at Humatics to lead a dedicated New York team.
The company also aims to expand its transportation footprint beyond New York City– helping large- and mid-market transportation systems across the United States and globally upgrade their signaling systems for quicker throughput, improved environmental durability, and reduced maintenance times.
Leaders from across the industry expressed their support for this news and for Humatics technology:
“Humatics has been Siemens Mobility’s valuable and reliable partner for the past two years. Humatics’ team has an unmatched knowledge of the UWB technology and its possible applications in rail transportation,” said a spokesperson at Siemens Mobility.
“New technologies are needed to transform our out-dated infrastructure, not simply replace it in kind. Innovations in how we conceptualize, build, and manage infrastructure across multiple sectors to reduce costs, enhance benefits and improve safety are being made possible by Humatics’ field-proven microlocation products,” said Jeffrey Parker, infrastructure development investor and advisor.
“With its new mm-wave chip, Humatics has invented a novel location technology with unmatched precision and size. It is uniquely positioned to provide inexpensive, ubiquitous location as a core component of the internet of everything. It’s a pleasure to be part of this journey with Humatics and see customers’ excitement over this technology,” said Thomas Lee, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.
“Humatics new microlocation chip represents a breakthrough in precise, inexpensive location. It is a core technology that will generate valuable new products for years to come, in manufacturing, robotics, medical, aerospace, and more,” said Ray Stata, co-founder and chairman at Analog Devices.
A video explaining how the Milo Microlocation technology works can be found here.
About Humatics
Recognized as the inventor and leader in industrial ultra-wideband, Humatics has built the first microlocation system for the industrial world that fuses proprietary industrial-grade UWB, sensors, and data, delivering best-in-class range and precision and enabling transit systems to navigate safely and reliably. Our breakthrough microlocation products include the Humatics Rail Navigation System, enabling transit systems to improve their train navigation capabilities, and the first-ever microlocation-on-a-chip technology for mm-scale tracking in industries such as manufacturing, medical, and industrial application. Customers use Humatics’ systems to solve mission-critical localization and navigation challenges in harsh environments where other technologies fall short.
Founded by world leaders in AI-assisted piloting, autonomous navigation, and high-precision radar, Humatics is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts with an office in Huntsville, Alabama. Humatics is the underlying technology behind two out of the four winners in the Signaling category for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge and, in 2019, completed a successful UWB Pilot with the MTA, demonstrating that UWB can cost-effectively accelerate MTA signaling modernization. For more information, visit www.humatics.com.
