Gary Ng (right), co-founder and CEO of Viact; Hugo Chuek, co-founder and COO.
Viact
Viact, a Hong Kong-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to monitor workplace safety in industrial facilities, has raised $7.3 million from investors including the corporate venture capital division of telecom giant Singapore Telecom.
Viact said on Wednesday that its series was led by Irish investment firm VentureWave Capital. Other investors participating in the funding round include the Korean Investment Partners and the Polyu Entrepreneur Investment Fund.
Co-founder and CEO Gary NG said in an interview at Viact’s headquarters that the startup will use the revenue to improve its AI video analytics software. NG said Viact will also expand its existing operations in Singapore and the Middle East and enter new markets in Europe and the United States.
VIACT's latest fundraising campaign was in 2021, when it received a $2 million seed round from investors including Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund. The startup is Forbes Asia 100 watch list in 2022.
VIACT's computer vision software can detect safety issues at work sites, such as hazardous area intrusions.
Viact
NG is a trained construction engineer who co-founded Viact with classmate Hugo Cheuk after seeing the potential for a possible digital labor-intensive construction industry. One obvious area is security inspections, which were conducted by security personnel surveillance cameras in the control room.
Therefore, NG and Cheuk have developed a computer vision software that can detect problems with no wearing protective equipment, dangerous area intrusions and mechanical collisions. The duo usually had to set up cameras at construction sites and spend a few days there to capture data from the build software, NG recalls.
Their software was launched in 2019 and runs through existing security cameras on construction sites. When potential hazards are discovered, it will touch the spot alarm as well as the mobile alarm to notify the scene manager. Ng said data is stored on client servers or on high security public clouds, and Viact can only access them with the consent of the customer.
“Many domain-specific applications, such as Sensetime, can’t do it,” Ng said. “Because we come from the construction industry, we understand how it works.”
Since then, ViaCT has expanded to serve industries such as oil and gas, mining and manufacturing, increasing issues from gas leaks to product defects and poor worker posture. The startup also added features that help worksites improve productivity, such as fleet routing optimization, and monitor environmental issues such as pollution and illegal dumping.
Ng said Viact's software has been deployed in more than 300 work locations, mainly in construction, followed by oil, gas and manufacturing industries. Its clients in Hong Kong include government departments and major real estate developers such as Henderson Land Development. In Singapore, it works with government housing and land transport projects, while in Saudi Arabia, it serves the oil behemoth Aramco and Neom Megacity projects. NG declined to disclose Viact's financial situation, but said the startup has been profitable since 2019.
Ng said Viact is now working with undisclosed data center operators to deploy its workplace security software. Meanwhile, the startup is looking to connect its software to drones and robots. NG added that Viact's computer vision technology will allow drones to inspect the facades of high-rise buildings while allowing robots to track progress at work locations.
Viact is one of the Hong Kong startups that are taking advantage of one of the world's most urbanized markets. Others in the real estate technology field include AMPD Energy, which has developed an all-electric alternative to diesel generators on construction sites. The company's power storage system is deployed by major local developers including Sun Hung Kai Properties and Sino Group Forbes Asia 100 watch list in 2021.
