World shaper of tomorrow: Scandit blends the physical and digital worlds 

“We help people access information about the world around them in a quasi-magical way,” explained Scandit CEO Dr. Samuel Mueller when we asked him about a simplified description of what his company does. Looking back at the last decade, Samuel adds a bit more complexity and illustrates how Scandit transforms mobile computer-vision software to make the magic happen.

Scandit’s machine learning platform combines barcode scanning, text recognition, object recognition, and augmented reality. This allows anyone with a camera-equipped smart device to blend the physical and digital worlds: A quick scan with a Scandit-enabled app creates augmented reality overlays on the phone screen that provide customers with personalized product offers or help drivers deliver the correct packages more efficiently. What still sounds a little futuristic started back in 2006–2009, when Samuel (CEO) and his co-founders Christian Floerkemeier (VP product and CTO) and Christof Roduner (VP Engineering and CIO) were getting their PhDs and doing research at ETH Zurich. Smartphones with cameras were on the rise, and the three researchers were interested in facilitating interactions between the Internet of things and real-world objects. Samuel, Christian, and Christof tried to make the lens of the smartphone camera interact with the environment. “We saw a big opportunity to use computer vision to access information and make it come to life. That was our initial ambition,” explained Samuel. Their company Mirasense was incorporated in 2009. Even though the goal of bringing computer-vision solutions to all enterprises and devices stuck, the name did not: “People kept mispronouncing and misspelling Mirasense. It was just not catchy enough,” said Samuel. When the team got ready to launch the first product, a price comparison app in the US, the naming issue came up again. “Nobody was going to download the Mirasense price comparison app. We came up with Scandit because it was descriptive, memorable, and expressed the spirit of the app,” explained Samuel. Scandit was so catchy that the founders renamed their company.

“Being exposed to the Silicon Valley ecosystem helped us develop our thinking about the markets and our ambitions. We realized that we sometimes limited ourselves and that we can actually aim really high.” – Dr. Samuel Mueller

Scandit grows—one scan at a time
While launching the company, Scandit won Venture Kick and made their platform more accessible. This led to more customers and investors, and in 2014, Scandit raised USD 5.5 million in a pre-Series A round. With the increase in wearables—which could be powered by Scandit technology—the startup gained even more traction, attracted more and more enterprise customers, and raised USD 7.5 million from Atomico, a leading European VC fund, in 2017. Continuing to expand the product offerings, strategic partnerships, and enterprise customer base, the team’s strategy paid off when Google Ventures invested USD 30 million in 2018. In 2020, Scandit secured USD 80 million in a Series C round—again with US investors. Besides the headquarters in Zurich, Scandit now has offices in Boston, London, Tampere, Warsaw, and Tokyo. “Zurich continues to be an important location for Scandit, as this is where our global headquarters and several of the company’s senior leaders are located. But most importantly, it is a key hub of our technology innovation,” explained Samuel. “A significant part of our core engineering team is based here; many of them have been with Scandit from the very beginning, and we are continuing to attract great local technical talent that Switzerland is famous for.”



Leading us into the future
Within a decade, the Scandit technology has been installed on more than 100 million active mobile devices that capture tens of billions of scans per year. Scandit’s computer-vision solutions are used across all industries—from retail to last-mile delivery, healthcare, and air travel—and by customers such as 7-Eleven, Coop, Swiss Post, FedEx, Siemens, and Toyota. COVID-19 has further accelerated Scandit’s growth: In a world that now has to think more about social distancing, contactless means of interaction, and in-store self-scanning, computer-vision solutions are in high demand. But even without a pandemic, Scandit’s future is bright: About half of the world’s population has a smartphone, and the number is growing. The devices have transformed how we interact not only with each other but also with our environment. Scandit is at the forefront of showing us how smartphones can bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds—with a little bit of magic. 

 

About "World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future"

The TOP 100 book "World shapers of tomorrow: Startups building our future" shows the impact of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups over the last 10 years. On 100 pages, the publication features the facts and figures about the startup ecosystem in Switzerland, shows the sectors and geographic distribution, and lists the investors behind Swiss deeptech startups. The book also highlights disruptive companies that changed their industry: Beekeeper, Bestmile, Climeworks, Covagen, DeinDeal, Doodle, GetYourGuide, MindMaze, Scandit, and Piavita. The founders of these startups share anecdotes and discuss their successes, lessons learned, and visions for the future. A selection of 10 verticals illustrates how Swiss deeptech startups transform our lives and help us build a better and more sustainable future in relation to health, longevity, digitalization, and decentralization. Learn more and download your copy at www.top100startups.swiss/10years.

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