University of Southampton-founded rail maintenance analytics technology developer Perpetuum has been acquired in a deal enabling IP Group to exit.
Perpetuum, a UK-based railway analytics technology spinout from University of Southampton, is to be acquired for an undisclosed sum by Hitachi Rail, the train manufacturing unit of electronics manufacturer Hitachi High-Technologies.
The deal is expected to close in the autumn of 2020 so long as it satisfies fair competition criteria concerning Hitachi’s role in the train manufacturing sector.
Founded in 2004, Perpetuum builds wireless sensors that can be integrated with trains to provide real-time data to the operator using artificial intelligence-driven analytics.
The sensors can be installed at the intersection of train wheels and rail lines in order to provide insights into the train’s current condition and the force driving its progress.
Following the purchase, the technology will be implemented to assist rail operators using Hitachi-built trains in making passenger journeys less prone to delays. Perpetuum claims there has never been a critical fault within trains fitted with its sensors.
Perpetuum obtained $3.9m in August 2018 from the UK government’s Rail Supply Growth Fund, a vehicle managed by Finance Birmingham.
The funding came two years after a round of undisclosed size featuring IP Group and its subsidiary Parkwalk Advisors Opportunities EIS Fund, as well as ETF Partners.
ETF Partners had led a $10m series B round for Perpetuum in 2007 that included IP Group-owned Top Technology Ventures and Quester.
The spinout’s other early investors include Albion Capital and Environmental Technologies Fund, a vehicle managed by ETF Partners.
