Mapping and location platform Magic Lane has secured €3 million in investment to develop its location intelligence software in micromobility and expand commercial operations.
The Amsterdam-based company, which currently operates in Europe and Asia, is known for its Software Development Kits (SDKs) that let companies embed mapping, location and navigation functionalities into vehicles, apps and online platforms.
Dutch venture capital firm No Such Ventures supplied the funding. It will be used to enhance safety and accessibility of micromobility in urban environments and develop IoT and ‘connected mobility’.
“The time has come to stop talking about how lightweight the software is, its offline capabilities, its multi-SDK support and how its location is privacy friendly,” Magic Lane CEO Raymond Alves told Zag Daily. “Instead, let’s focus on how this translates into a fast, easy to implement, go-to market we can create for our customers.”
According to Alves, the most popular micromobility brands have implemented a Controller Area Network (CAN bus) for bikes – a message-based protocol allowing vehicles to communicate with one another.
“This means all the data in the IoT device comes together such as the data output from the accelerometer, gyroscope [which measures the rotation rate] and the exact location. Hence, we’re able to measure the speed and the rider’s contribution to the speed, the battery status, and the range.
“Via the Sim, we can get actual data like temperature which affects the battery range, wind such as head or tailwind which affects the range too, and live traffic data.”
Magic Lane’s minimal hardware makes the technology suitable for electric bikes and scooters, and for providing mapping solutions to large fleets of vehicles. The company is currently working with one cargo fleet in particular to plan its routes.
From its founders playing an instrumental role in the rollout of Route66 – which brought the first navigation application to personal commuters – Magic Lane now competes with Google, TomTom and Mapbox.
