Pointerra orienteers its way to three additional US sales agreements

Geospatial data company Pointerra (ASX: 3DP) has announced a string of sales agreements in three different sectors in North America and has said that it expects its domestic and international sales momentum to generate further commercial growth next quarter.

Pointerra is focused on the commercialisation of its unique 3D geospatial data technology which has quickly become a valuable commodity alongside greater use of GPS technology and demand for more accurate navigation by consumers and businesses.

The company says its technology “solves an entrenched problem” in the digital asset management sector and allows very large 3D datasets to be viewed by users without the need for high-performance computing.

The idea behind efficient data handling is that 3D data can be processed and stored in the cloud for instant on-demand user access on multiple devices which provides “actionable 3D information to power digital asset management solutions.”

Pointerra’s stated vision is to create a global marketplace for 3D data, saving users time and money and creating a “3D data access revolution.”

Just yesterday, Pointerra reported “significant growth” in customer invoicing and cash receipts having invoiced $175,000 and receiving $81,000 in customer receipts, a stark improvement compared to the previous quarter.

Largely due to the impact made by recently-appointed chief operating officer Randy Rhoads, Pointerra has quickly grown its US and international sales pipeline in the Utility, Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC), Data Capture and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) sectors with company metrics indicating consistent improvement since mid-2018.

Driver assistance

In the ADAS sector, Pointerra has for the first time deployed its proprietary data structure technology to support 3D mapping for the autonomous driving industry – currently, an emerging high-growth sector that is forecast to grow to around US$16.8 billion by 2025, according to Statista.com.

Pointerra has said that it has successfully converted a proof of concept trial into an enterprise DaaS agreement with “one of North America’s leading mobile mapping companies”, that provides production mapping software for the autonomous driving industry.

Keeping the name of its new customer under wraps, Pointerra said its new customer will use its Pointerra’s cloud platform and application development environment to undertake feature extraction and data analytics from its own mobile mapping 3D data as part of its internal production process.

The unique selling point is that Pointerra will facilitate a service “at a level of scale and efficiency not possible with its existing legacy platform.”

The new customer has agreed on an initial DaaS contract to the tune of US$9,000 (A$12,500) per month, which is expected to “grow materially” in the coming 12 months as Pointerra’s technology is deployed to scale-up mobile mapping and 3D data acquisition across the US and Canada.

Engineering and construction

In the AEC sector, Pointerra says its technology integration partnerships with global giants Autodesk and Bentley are generating “compelling improvements in workflow efficiency”, including the emerging digital process known as “Building Information Management” (BIM) – a market segment that’s forecast to reach US$11.5 billion (A$16.2 billion) by 2022, according to data obtained by Transparency Market Research.

One of its notable successes has been upselling a global engineering firm from a single local office-based DaaS subscription generating less than US$500 per month, to a full enterprise DaaS licence with 3 deployment regions amounting to at least US$7,500 per month.

“Another global AEC firm headquartered in the UK has also recently become an enterprise DaaS customer, with monthly DaaS subscriptions expected to grow rapidly as additional offices are added progressively in a rollout commencing now and continuing through calendar 2019,” according to Pointerra.

Capturing data

Pointerra’s data capture segment is also showing healthy commercial performance.

Companies operating in the data capture sector typically comprise geospatial professionals including surveyors, aerial and mobile mapping specialists, and drone operators.

Pointerra says organisations from this sector were the first to sign up to its DaaS solution in Australia and New Zealand which generated subscriptions of between A$250-$5,000 per month.

One of the more prominent deals was a widened and extended subscription from Total Earth Solutions. According to the terms of the deal, Total Earth will conduct a local government area survey in and around Perth in WA, by using its LiDAR-equipped aircraft and producing a highly accurate aerial 3D dataset.

Pointerra has been tasked with managing the raw data obtained by Total Earth and making it available for sale via its cloud platform.

There are also strong commercial metrics coming from the US.

Earlier this month, Pointerra secured its first US-based deal via a $7,500 monthly DaaS subscription for a minimum of 12 months with a US customer.

Upon completing the deal, the company declared it expected its data capture business in the US to undergo material growth in the foreseeable future as more 3D data and users are added to its database.

Most recently, a leading surveying and mapping company that services US federal agency customers including FEMA and NOAA, also become a paying DaaS customer with intentions to upscale its use of Pointerra’s solution across its US operations.

This morning’s news helped Pointerra’s shares gain 50% to trade at $0.042 per share by midday.