Facebook acquires London-based computer vision startup, Scape technologies

It’s no secret that the social media giant Facebook keeps acquiring new companies from time to time. Some notable acquisitions by the company include WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus VR. However, Facebook also frequently invests in startups and smaller companies and the London-based computer vision startup Scape Technologies is it’s latest acquisition. The startup was founded in 2017 and it offers a “Visual Positioning Service” that runs on computer vision to enable developers build apps that require superior location accuracy.

Acquisition details

A regulatory filing spotted by TechCrunch’s Steve O’Hear suggests that Scrape technologies has been acquired by Facebook. While Facebook has not released a comment on its latest acquisition, a spokesperson from the company told TechCrunch, “We acquire smaller tech companies from time to time. We don’t always discuss our plans.” Additionally, a Companies House update reveals that Facebook Inc. now owns a majority stake in the company (over 75 percent). 

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In addition, going through other filings, O’Hear says that the price of this acquisition could be around €36.5 million. Also, Scape’s previous VC representatives are said to have resigned from the Scape board and are replaced by two Facebook executives. Scape is backed by Entrepreneur First (EF), which is an alumni of the company builder program, along with Mosaic Ventures, LocalGlobe, and Fly Ventures. It is worth noting that EF and Fly Ventures already had a joint exit to Facebook, when Bloomsbury AI was ‘acqui-hired’ by the social media platform. 

Scape’s technology that interested Facebook

Scape offers a “Visual Positioning Service,” which is meant to be used by developers whose apps require superior positioning accuracy. This tech is said to enable “centimeter-level location recognition at a previously unprecedented scale,” and is built around ‘Vision Engine’ that builds and references 3D maps in the cloud. While this tech targets augmented reality apps, it will also be used for mobility, logistics and robotics.

Image credits: Scape

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