Dutch startup Grasp Innovations has raised €550,000 (US$671,000) from the Mainport Innovation Fund II for further product development and international rollout. Grasp, founded in 2019, focuses on the implementation of radar technology in security processes. They offer an advanced radar system in combination with proprietary developed software that is highly accurate and GDPR compliant.
The company says its security solution can automate repetitive tasks currently performed by security personnel, such as the manual surveillance at access controls. Moreover, the solution provides actionable insight into the performance of passenger security checks. This results in potential staff planning improvement and an increase in security capacity, leading to shorter queue times for passengers and higher employee and passenger satisfaction.
Robert Schuur, CEO at Grasp Innovations, commented, “We are thrilled about the collaboration with MIF II. They bring a relevant network and a lot of experience which will help us with Grasp’s further growth. The fact that we have raised an investment in a difficult time for our industry gives us great confidence in the potential of Grasp. Now, we can start realizing our ambitious plans.”
Covid-19 has reduced the number of air travelers to a minimum, although air traffic is expected to return to pre-crisis levels between 2023 and 2025. The challenge for aviation, says Grasp, is to be able to scale with this growth, once the lockdown is over. Moreover, Covid-19 has fueled the need for contactless travel, shortened queue times and customer-friendly security processes. This must be realized while simultaneously maintaining the desired high safety and service levels.
Grasp says its solution helps airports address this need and accelerates the transition to fully autonomous processes. Although the company mainly focuses on aviation, it also caters to other industry customers that deal with security operations, such as banks or other high-value environments.
Thijs Gitmans, fund manager for MIF II, said, “In challenging times Grasp has proven that its solution creates added value for aviation. We see opportunities for airports, such as our partner Schiphol, to use automation to improve processes such as security without losing quality and with even better queue times. That is why now is the right time to invest in a disruptive technology like Grasp’s. The team consists of intelligent and ambitious entrepreneurs who have a lot of domain knowledge in the field of airport security. This combination means that this startup is ideally suited to our fund.”
