Anyline, a company that builds mobile data capture and scanning technologies for multiple industries, has raised $20 million.
Founded out of Vienna, Austria in 2013, Anyline has developed a range of data capture products, such as barcode scanning; optical character recognition (OCR)-powered document scanning; biometric face authentication; serial number scanning; and even driver’s license scanning, which enables retailers to easily verify a person’s age and identity at the point of sale or curbside pickup.
Elsewhere, police forces can integrate Anyline’s technology to scan all manner of IDs and vehicle license plates to verify drivers instantly, which not only speeds things up but also reduces the chance of errors through traditional manual processes such as typing or broadcasting data via radio.
Above: Anyline: license plate scanning
“At its core, Anyline makes data capture simple for enterprises by removing the need for manual data entry,†Anyline CEO and cofounder Lukas Kinigadner told VentureBeat. “The first key benefit of automating data entry is process optimization, as businesses can do away with paper-based systems and digitally transform their data entry. This also vastly improves enterprise data quality, as in general, humans are terrible at writing and typing information.â€
It’s also worth noting that for businesses concerned about transmitting confidential data to third-party servers, Anyline supports data collection on-device and offline.
Growth
Anyline, which claims 250 customers from across the private and public sectors — including PepsiCo, Edison, and Swisscom — has been doubling down on its global expansion efforts. While its official HQ remains in Vienna, Anyline opened its U.S. headquarters in Boston last year after closing a $12 million series A round and earlier this year expanded into the U.S. retail sector. According to Kinigadner, U.S. business now accounts for around 40% of his company’s revenue.
With another $20 million in the bank, Anyline is better positioned to compete against well-financed competitors such as Scandit, which closed an $80 million round last year. More importantly, it’s now positioned to capitalize on demand that has gone through the roof over the past 15 months, driven in part by the rapid uptake of contactless technologies during the COVID-19 crisis. This trend has been particularly pronounced in hospitality, where hotels have leveraged Anyline’s ID-scanning smarts to enable check-ins, while retailers have also embraced Anyline’s technology.
“Over the past 15 months, demand for mobile data capture solutions has surged across multiple industries,†Kinigadner explained. “The surge in popularity for socially distanced retail experiences, including curbside pickup, scan-and-go, and click-and-collect, also drove demand from retailers for mobile scanning technology.â€
Since its last raise, Anyline also launched Anyline Trainer, which makes it easier for companies to train their custom OCR systems “in hours†by uploading their own set of training images.
Anyline’s latest cash injection was led by Digital+ Partners, with participation from Project A, Senovo, Johann “Hansi†Hansmann, and Push Ventures.
