Miovision Technologies Inc. has made a pivotal acquisition financed by three large Canadian technology investors, establishing the Kitchener, Ont. company as one of North America’s leading smart city equipment vendors.
It will give Miovision an expanded market for selling its wares, used by governments to monitor and study traffic flows for planning purposes and detect real-time traffic patterns to adjust and optimize signaling. GTT is used at more than 90,000 intersections in 3,100 cities globally. By contrast, Miovision products serve 10,000 intersections in 450 cities.
To finance the deal, Miovision has raised US$150-million from Maverix Private Equity, Telus Corp. and Export Development Canada. Each is investing US$50-million, with US$125-million going to the company and US$25-million to early investors. Telus, which led a C$120-million financing of Miovision in 2020, will additionally buy out early backer MacKinnon, Bennett & Co. for C$52-million.
“Miovision had a game-changing opportunity and needed someone to act quickly,” to finance the deal, said Guillermo Freire, senior vice president, mid-market with EDC, which has stepped up its support for growing export-oriented Canadian technology companies recently. “We cted without hesitation given the opportunity” and conviction about Miovision’s market leadership, he said.