‘Tended’ geofencing: improving safety in rail & heavy industries raises £1.5 million under EIS
Dubbed ‘Google Maps for heavy industry’ Tended’s advanced Geofencing technology is currently used across the rail industry by leading organisations such as Network Rail, Siemens, Morgan Sindall and Amey to improve safety. Tended successfully closed out the £1.5 million EIS round with Wealth Club with participation from existing investor Blackfinch Ventures.
In the UK, Network Rail is responsible for maintaining more than 20,000 miles of track – but despite a strong focus on trackside safety, accidents do happen causing significant financial cost and even cost lives. Network Rail has committed a specific allocation of its £44 billion, 5-year budget to improve safety, and has identified geofencing as a key technology for meeting the tightening regulations.
With Tended’s solution, which uses Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and real time kinematics (RTK) to provide location to within 1cm, managers can set ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ locations on an easy-to-use dashboard. Meanwhile, high-precision wearables pinpoint where workers and other physical assets are located, and can alert users if they are unsafe.
Tended’s commitment to workplace safety was internationally recognised when its product was featured in Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2023 list. This recognition illustrates the type of impactful technological solutions Blackfinch Ventures and Wealth Club aims to support through its investments.
In January, Siemens Mobility announced that it would be rolling out Tended’s technology across the UK following a successful six-month pilot and small-scale deployments in the South West, where the teams were impressed by its suitability for the varied and complex projects*. Following on from its success in the rail sector, Tended is also targeting other heavy industries including Highways and Utilities. Tended is now working in partnership with the European Space Agency on the next generation of its product.
Gayle Bowen, Head of Direct company investments at Wealth Club said: “Tended has achieved a great deal since launching its Geofencing product in March 2023. Not only has it secured contracts and pilots with key industry players like Siemens Mobility but it has also secured major R&D funding to complete the next iteration of its technology. We expect the Department for Transport’s anticipated changes to safety standards to be an important catalyst in this market which could further underpin Tended’s growth plans. Tended is a great example of high impact UK innovation as part of a commercially compelling EIS investment.”
Leo Scott Smith, CEO of Tended said: I’m delighted to welcome Wealth Club as a shareholder at this really exciting time in our growth trajectory. We’re already starting to see the profound impact we’re having on safety and efficiency in the rail industry through the implementation of our geofencing technology. With Wealth Club on board, I’m excited to increase this impact and together, work towards our mission of putting an end to preventable fatalities in heavy industries.
