3 Oct 2024
Estonian startup GScan is at the forefront of revolutionizing infrastructure assessment through innovative application of muon tomography. The company is a part of EIC Scaling Club’s Next-Gen Computing group.
GScan uses harmless particles from space to see inside objects in 3D and analyze their materials. The company’s core focus lies in evaluating the structural integrity of critical assets such as bridges, tunnels, dams, and industrial facilities, including nuclear reactors. By accurately determining the condition and lifespan of these structures, GScan empowers clients to make informed decisions regarding maintenance and restoration.
In this interview, we spoke with Andi Hektor, GScan’s Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), on this cosmic radiation's potential and the company’s journey to tackling infrastructure challenges with it.
Reinforcing concrete's weaknesses
The ubiquitous use of reinforced concrete in modern construction poses a significant challenge. While this material offers remarkable strength, its durability over time remains uncertain. Traditional inspection methods are limited to surface-level or near-surface examinations, providing insufficient data for a comprehensive understanding of internal structural integrity.
GScan's groundbreaking technology leverages muon tomography to overcome this limitation. By harnessing the power of naturally occurring atmospheric particles, this technology can penetrate deep into concrete structures, detecting defects with millimeter precision that were previously undetectable.
GScan's diverse leadership board—including scientists, business development professionals, and academics—reflects its unique position at the intersection of research and market application. The company’s journey began with securing crucial grants and participating in innovation projects, which provided the foundation for attracting initial investment. Building on this momentum, GScan acquired its first client two years ago, a pivotal milestone that led to securing the company's first recurring contract this year.
Technology with a learning curve
Despite the innovative nature of its technology, GScan faces the typical challenges of a young company with a relatively small team. With a revenue of 1.5 million euros last year, the company is working on expanding its client base. As a late-seed/pre-series A startup, GScan currently prioritizes two directions:
- Building a sustainable revenue stream and securing recurring contracts;
- Determining the right subsector and a focused marketing and sales strategy for it.
GScan has been actively expanding its market reach for the past year, particularly in the UK. From September last year, when nobody knew them, to making a name for themselves and approaching their first big project in autumn, the startup has come a long way.
According to Andi Hektor, the company strategically selected the UK market due to the presence of two competitors focusing on different sub-segments. This landscape meant that a certain level of awareness about the technology already existed among local industry players.
"Muon tomography is still a very new technology. Just recently, clients told me they'd never heard of it. Therefore, educating the market is a crucial part of our sales and marketing strategy. To build visibility, we need to position ourselves as business leaders in this field, which is essential for any successful deep tech startup."
Scaling with support
GScan has found the EIC Scaling Club to be a valuable resource, particularly in fostering connections with potential investors. The Club's mentorship opportunities have also proven beneficial, offering insights from experienced deep tech entrepreneurs on building focused sales teams.
"The EIC Scaling Club really opened our eyes to the importance of laser-focused market entry. Initially, we thought our technology could be applied everywhere, but our mentors emphasized the need for a clear target niche and recurring revenue. It's a valuable lesson that has reshaped our business strategy. We’ve also learned valuable tricks for leveraging a limited sales and marketing budget."
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.
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