Evercam captures €2.5m from Davy's EIIS fund

Dublin construction camera software company hopes to boost its operations in the US, writes Sean Pollock

Evercam’s offices in Dublin’s Rotunda — the company has raised €3m in the last year

Sean Pollock Email

January 24 2021 02:30 AM

Evercam, a Dublin-based construction time-lapse camera and project management software company, has secured a €2.5m investment from a fund linked to stockbroker Davy and professional services company BDO.

The company, headed by Marco Herbst, secured the investment toward the end of December. According to Companies Registration Office documents, the investment was made by investor services firm IQ-EQ, which is understood to act as a trustee for the Davy EIIS Fund.

Speaking with the Sunday Independent, Herbst said the investor was the Davy EIIS, which is also linked to BDO. He was attracted to the financing package as the investment is non-diluting.

Herbst hopes to use the investment to grow the business in the US and boost its artificial intelligence capabilities.

"It is daunting; there are high expectations now," Herbst said. "Everybody that has gone before us, in terms of taking Irish companies to America, the consistent advice is that it is the big opportunity; it is the thing you have got to go for if you are ambitious.

"The rationale for us, the US wasn't the easiest for us. We could have gone to Amsterdam or Australia, which is working out really well for us.

"If we are serious about our ambition of being the number one company in the world at what we do, then you can't avoid America. That was our rationale, it might have been nice to spend more time getting market dominance in the UK, but I didn't feel like we had that time.

"We are serious about being number one globally, so America is non-negotiable," he added.

Evercam, which large contractors use, such as BAM Ireland on notable projects such as the National Children's Hospital, has raised €3m in the last year.

It recently completed a €600,000 round with DBIC Ventures and Elkstone.

Herbst said Evercam has around 60 employees, a lot of whom started following the €600,000 fund raising. He believes the company will be up close to 100 staff toward the end of the year, with new hires mostly working sales roles overseas.

The company also recently hired three sales staff in the US, having completed some new deals in Texas.

Herbst said Evercam was also on track to grow its turnover significantly. Evercam had sales of €2m last year, with Herbst having the ambition to hit revenue of €100m in seven years if the company maintains its growth level.

The company uses machine learning and AI to help clients capture information from video time-lapses to ascertain real-time project status and site activity. The product can also be used to help construction companies avoid site disputes.

It currently has offices in Ireland, Britain, Australia, the US, Pakistan, Algeria, Poland and Canada.