A North East tech firm which gathers data on traffic and pedestrians for planning professionals is mapping out its future following investment.
Street Systems was set up in Newcastle by directors Tom Bailey and Tom Komar, who had previously worked together for sustainable transport charity Sustrans and wanted to see better quality pedestrian movement data available to planning professionals.
The firm analyses how people and traffic circulate in the built environment, using sensors to track their movements – information which can prove invaluable for local authorites and planning groups.
Now Streets Systems is using a £25,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund, supported By The European Regional Development Fund, to invest in new monitoring equipment which will enable it to take on more projects and scale up its operations.
It has worked with The City of London Corporation on a project which aimed to reduce potential conflict between cyclists and pedestrians in a busy shared space, and also maintains permanent footfall monitoring equipment on Northumberland Street for Newcastle University’s Urban Observatory.
The directors worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to secure the Small Loan Fund investment and are now looking to grow the firm’s client base, which includes architectural consultants, planning professionals, academic institutions and local authorities.
The business is aiming to double its annual turnover this year, and to then do the same again next year to take it to around £250,000 by the end of 2020. At least one new job is expected to be created each year over the next three years as the company grows.
Mr Bailey said: “Our people and traffic sensors can accurately track the movements of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as the speed and volume of motor traffic, and allow us to collect constant real time data 24/7, something which would be pretty much impossible for human observers to do in busy environments.
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“Our ‘Machine Vision’ technology then enables us to extract information on movement and flow which can be factored into the design of changes and improvements that will benefit everyone using the area in question.
“The projects that we’ve undertaken so far have shown how effective this approach can be in improving the urban environments that we all use, and increasing our capacity to take on more and bigger projects by bringing in this new equipment will help us grow the business quickly over the next couple of years.
Mike Guellard, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, who met the business at last year’s VentureFest North East event added: “Streets Systems’ approach is already delivering clear results in a market that is only going to keep increasing in the future, and our investment gives it the capacity to capitalise on future opportunities.”