UK-based Continuum Industries has secured £8.2m in a Series A round led by Singular, with the participation of previous investors Credo, Playfair, Techstart Ventures and business angels, including executives from UiPath, Skyscanner and SSE. The AI firm said it will use the funds to double its headcount and expand its presence in new territories over the next year. Continuum Industries provides a network and linear infrastructure development platform called Optioneer, which enables power, utility and renewables firms to visualise, analyse and evaluate routing options for power lines, pipelines and onshore and offshore cables. The company said that using AI it can reduce planning time to as little as eight weeks, slicing a process that once therefore took up to 12 months.
Companies face multiple challenges in delivering major infrastructure projects. Continuum Industries said among the most significant are technical and regulatory considerations, design and planning rules, project-specific environmental, social, technical and financial considerations, and the competing perspectives and priorities of different stakeholders. The platform aims to help firms address these challenges by providing insight from satellite data and advanced machine learning algorithms to better understand project requirements and reduce complexity.
Continuum’s CEO, Grzegorz Marecki, said clients in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and the US – including National Grid, SSEN Transmission, National Gas Transmission, Fred. Olsen Seawind and Iberdola Group – are using its technology to assess thousands of kilometres of assets across large-scale projects. He added that the company is working to accelerate the digitalisation of the infrastructure industry and make a real impact for people and the planet.
