3 Oct 2024
Basemark is a software company specializing in augmented reality (AR) technology for the automotive industry. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, the company develops tools that empower car manufacturers to rapidly create various AR applications for in-vehicle use. We spoke to Tero Sarkkinen, founder and CEO of this innovative scaleup, member of the EIC Scaling Club’s Next-Gen Computing group.
Basemark's mission is to enhance road safety through AR. By overlaying digital information onto the real world, the company aims to keep drivers focused on the road. For instance, navigation directions can be projected directly onto the road, eliminating the need for drivers to look down at the dashboard. Additionally, the technology can identify potential hazards, such as oncoming motorcycles or pedestrians, and alert the driver accordingly.
Productivity boost for AR development
Tero Sarkkinen has a 25-year history in the tech industry. The first company he led focused on processor and graphics performance testing, leading to a collaboration with Audi and Nvidia to develop futuristic digital cockpit concepts. This experience sparked his first self-founded venture, Rightware, which became a leading provider of automotive user interface software. After successfully exiting Rightware, Tero founded Basemark in 2015, building on his expertise in the automotive industry.
Today, the company faces competition from other technology firms in China and Korea. Additionally, major tier-one suppliers like Visteon and Harman possess some in-house AR development capabilities. However, Bosch is Basemark’s partner and already uses its tools for AR development.
Basemark differentiates itself by offering a comprehensive development toolkit that enables independent use by other companies and developers. This tool significantly boosts productivity, reducing the number of AR designers required from 10 or 20 to two or three. Development time is shortened dramatically, with the ability to create 100 iterations per day compared to just one every two weeks previously. This translates to substantial cost savings for clients. Tero explains:
“While many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) develop AR in-house, they are not our competitors. They're actually potential customers for our AR development tools that enable their team to develop faster and more efficiently.”
7 years finding the right product-market fit
It wasn’t straightforward for Basemark to find its place on the market. Tero and his very talented developer team initially explored the virtual reality market. Leveraging their PC graphics expertise, they developed VR performance testing software. However, the VR market's rapid decline prompted a pivot.
Recognizing their strengths in graphics and existing automotive connections, the company shifted focus to computer-aided driving. By combining computer vision and graphics rendering capabilities, Basemark identified an opportunity in AR technology in 2022.
Basemark hasn’t been immune to global turbulences, like the Covid pandemic. The shift to remote work hindered the company's B2B sales efforts, leading to a dramatic slowdown in new business acquisition. While the company managed to retain existing clients and projects, revenue was cut in half, dropping from 8 million to 4 million in a single year.
When the company had finally found its product-market fit and started to raise funding, Russia’s war in Ukraine broke out. Tero shares how this impacted the company’s fundraising efforts:
“Securing the 22 million euro round, consisting of 17 million in equity, was the most difficult fundraising process of my career. I've raised well over 50 million throughout my career in funding, and this surpassed all the challenges I’ve ever faced in previous rounds.”
As of today, Basemark has secured approximately 35 million euros in funding through a combination of equity, R&D loans, and grants. “We were very happy and lucky to receive an EIC grant worth 2.5 million, which was super critical for us at that time,” Tero adds.
Basemark gears up for growth
Basemark has secured significant software licensing deals. While the company has been providing software development services to BMW since 2018, it has recently closed two major production deals for its own software license. One of these deals is valued in the tens of millions and will result in the company's AR software being installed in millions of cars.
Today, Basemark has over 100 employees and keeps on growing. The company is on the brink of profitability and is projected to break even this year and achieve full-year profitability in the following year. Tero shares his joy for reaching this milestone:
“This is an incredible moment in every entrepreneur’s life. It's the culmination of years of hard work, and it feels amazing to be so close to achieving our goal.”
Basemark’s EIC Scaling Club membership is another stepping stone for further success. Tero shares the company’s progress within the Club: “We've started workshops and assembled a mentor team composed of experienced investors and entrepreneurs with strong backgrounds in semiconductors, software, and other areas. Our focus is on scaling strategies to overcome growth challenges and attract the next level of investors.”
EIC Scaling Club is also helping Basemark identify its focus for geographic expansion and product diversification beyond the automotive industry. Tero points out:
“Mentor insights are providing an additional layer of strategic guidance, acting as another set of board members. Additionally, we've sent our rising stars – middle management representatives – to the EIC Summer School, where they've gained valuable experience and development opportunities.”
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date!
Related Articles
Recent Articles
Carmen Font – Clean Fuels and Hydrogen Group President
26 Sep 2024
EIC Scaling Club members have raised a cumulative 73M EUR in advance of the Scale 100 Forum
17 Sep 2024
Persistence, stamina, and grit are more important than ever – Interview with Patrik Sobocki
11 Sep 2024
UMNAI: The missing piece of today’s AI – Hybrid Intelligence
11 Sep 2024
Basemark: Transforming the driving experience with augmented reality
21 Aug 2024
QuiX Quantum: Building a quantum future with photonic power
15 Aug 2024
QuoIntelligence: Democratizing threat intelligence
13 Aug 2024
Learning is a lifelong journey – Interview with Tero Vauraste
9 Aug 2024
Quobly: Tackling the world's growing computational challenges with quantum power
8 Aug 2024
European deep-tech scale-ups focus on market expansion, funnel optimization, and investment readiness level to attract growth funding
6 Aug 2024
Open Call – EIC matchmaking opportunity: Pitch your maritime and shipping industry innovations
1 Aug 2024
Imec: Bridging the gap between lab and market
29 Jul 2024
EIC Scaling Club report identifies top go-to-market challenges of European deep-tech scale-ups
24 Jul 2024
GScan: Pioneering infrastructure assessment with muon tomography
18 Jul 2024
Deep-tech is very close to our hearts – Interview with Marek Kotelnicki
17 Jul 2024
XXII: Revolutionizing video analytics with AI-powered computer vision
10 Jul 2024
Cohort 2: Meet the New Biotech Platforms stakeholders
9 Jul 2024
Sweetch Energy: Providing a source of renewable energy that ‘ticks all the boxes’
8 Jul 2024
How a paradigm-shifting company can benefit from the EIC Scaling Club – Interview with Marta Garcia Pedruelo
3 Jul 2024
Decarbonizing maritime shipping with state-of-the-art technology – Interview with Dana Camps
2 Jul 2024
ThreatMark: Building AI-powered defense against evolving banking fraud
1 Jul 2024
Scaling new heights: How Aerones conquers the wind industry
21 Jun 2024
Cohort 2: Meet the Battery & Energy Storage stakeholders
20 Jun 2024
Cohort 2: Agri & Food Tech stakeholders unveiled
17 Jun 2024
We can build many more unicorns together – Interview with Mikko Suonenlahti
13 Jun 2024
Bridging the Blockchain Chasm with Innovative Solutions – Interview with Fabrizia Zanca, VP of People at SettleMint
10 Jun 2024
EIB's role in Europe's deep tech ecosystem – Interview with Thomas Ferré
6 Jun 2024
Finding investment as a deeptech scaleup – interview with Larissa Skarke of World Fund
28 May 2024
Meet the man building deep tech ventures and spin-offs for IMEC: An interview with Olivier Rousseaux, its Director of Venture Development
24 May 2024
On European competitiveness and entrepreneurial education: Interview with Maria Zubeldia of Oxford's Saïd Business School
22 May 2024
'Mobilising private capital to address the world's greatest (climate) challenges': Carbon Equity CEO Jacqueline van den Ende is on a mission
15 May 2024
Scaling up Europe's deep tech ecosystems: An interview with EIC Board President Michiel Scheffer
14 May 2024
'Building the unicorns of tomorrow in Europe' - Video interview with Anna Panagopoulou, Director of 'ERA & Innovation' at the European Commission
8 May 2024
The Innovator put the spotlight on three EIC Scaling Club companies: Tilkal, VaultSpeed and Heimdall Power
29 Apr 2024
Meet the Mentors: Presenting the curated list of business experts to advise the first cohort of scale-ups
24 Apr 2024
EIC Scaling Club Report(s): Insights on four market sectors poised for deep tech innovation
9 Apr 2024
Interview: EISMEA Director Jean-David Malo takes stock of the EIC's achievements to date, and challenges ahead
29 Mar 2024
48 high-growth tech companies join the EIC Scaling Club to collectively bolster Europe’s deep tech scale-up ecosystem
28 Mar 2024
Accelerating computer vision on edge devices as a 'small, fast-growing Nvidia': Interview with Fabrizio Del Maffeo from Axelera AI
25 Mar 2024
The Earlybird gets the interview: A chat with seasoned VC investor Christian Nagel
14 Mar 2024
Kicking off in style: Meet the speakers for our upcoming Ignition Forum (9-10 April)
7 Mar 2024