UK AI tech company secures £5m series A funding

Vivacity Labs, the London-based tech company which uses artificial intelligence to improve traffic insights and safety, has announced it has secured £5m of Series A funding in a VC round led by investor Mobeus, with additional funding from existing investors Downing Ventures and London Co-Investment Fund.

Vivacity Labs works with government, regional bodies and local councils to re-think and optimise the way traffic and transport infrastructure is built and used. The technology provides anonymous, highly accurate data to deliver real time insight into road networks, infrastructure and the way in which we all use our cities.

The investment will support Vivacity Labs’ expansion of its AI-based traffic signal system, which reduces congestion and allows cities to prioritise sustainable modes of transport, such as cyclists and buses. The system will enable cities and transport authorities to efficiently adapt to different policy priorities, including reducing queuing, reducing emissions, and improving air quality.

Transport for Greater Manchester is already a key partner and is scaling up installation to an area of 20 junctions this year, and the Greater Cambridge Partnership in conjunction with Cambridgeshire County Council have also chosen to pilot this intelligent technology to help ease congestion and prioritise greener and active travel.

As part of its expansion plans, Vivacity Labs has recently appointed Rob Stait as UK Sales Director, previously of AppyWay, and with 20 years' experience in growing technology businesses. The company is also planning to double its headcount and is recruiting for roles across the company, including in R&D/software development, sales and marketing, and operations. Its manufacturing centre will remain in the UK, in Bletchley, Milton Keynes.

The company is seeing demand from international markets for smarter transport insights, as countries support initiatives in active travel and improved road safety. This year it will expand to support customers in countries including the Nordics, Benelux, and Australia.

“These are incredibly exciting times for Vivacity Labs, and the investment will support our objective to enhance and optimise traffic systems everywhere,” said Mark Nicholson, CEO of Vivacity Labs. “This has been a challenging year for transport and commuters, but it’s great to see positive initiatives such as active travel now being prioritised. I’m proud of our team who have developed some first-of-its kind technology which has untold potential.”

The Mobeus deal team comprised Greg Blin and Amaad Mahmood. Ed Wass, Portfolio Director, will be joining the Board. Greg said: “We’re incredibly excited to back this high-quality, passionate team who have created a market leading product.”

Cobin Corbally, Partner at Downing Ventures, commented, "We are delighted to continue our support for this dynamic young business, which is a global leader in traffic management solutions, using AI technology to make the world a safer place."

Vivacity Labs recently won the Innovative Use of Technology Award at the 2020 Intelligent Transport Systems, ITS (UK) Awards and has secured a three-year Innovate UK co-funded programme (alongside Immense Simulations) to use AI to optimise traffic networks. Vivacity Labs has developed an algorithm that is able to adapt quickly to changing traffic conditions and efficiently implement high-level strategies at both local and city-wide scales.

Startup Details

Startup Details

TOTAL FUNDING AMOUNT £1.7M
CB RANK (COMPANY) 17,941

Vivacity Labs

Vivacity's goal is to introduce the missing pieces of the digital infrastructure underlying its transport systems. Vivacity is empowering transport managers to take the next step in reducing congestion and improving safety on the roads, through providing unprecedented insight. Vivacity wants to make those transport managers omniscient.

To achieve this, Vivacity is installing thousands of sensors across the UK, including creating the UK's first transport-focused smart city in Milton Keynes, as the first step in this journey to  revolutionise the way data is collected. Each sensor uses the same technology being built into driverless vehicles, based on machine learning and artificial intelligence on video feeds, in order to gather a level of data that has never been available before.

Using this data, Vivacity is building advanced predictive algorithms to give deep insights into what's going to happen next in the transport system, again using machine learning in order to pre-empt the future.

  • Headquarters Regions
    London, UK
  • Founded Date
    Dec 21, 2015
  • Founders
    Mark Nicholson, Peter Mildon, Yang Lu
  • Operating Status
    Active
  • Number of Employees
    11-50