PervasID Raises £3.25M to Scale Its World-Leading Passive RFID Tracking Platform

November 21, 2024

PervasID, a Cambridge University spinout and world-leading innovator in passive RFID tracking technology, has secured £3.25 million in its latest funding round. The raise was led by Parkwalk Advisors, the UK's largest investor in university spinouts, alongside co-investment from two Maven-managed regional funds: NPIF II Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II supported by the British Business Bank, and the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council and managed by Business Durham. The round closes the first phase of a broader £4 million funding target, with £3.75 million already committed. The company was founded by Dr Sabesan Sithamparanathan, who received an OBE in the King's 2024 New Year Honours for services to innovation and STEM education, with CEO Peter Oram appointed in 2023 to lead the commercial scaling phase.

Passive RFID tagging — where small, battery-free tags respond to electromagnetic signals from a fixed reader — has become a foundational technology for inventory management in retail, logistics, healthcare, and aerospace. Unlike active RFID, which uses powered tags with long range but high cost, passive systems are affordable enough to apply at item level across very large product catalogues. The challenge has always been accuracy: conventional passive RFID readers suffer from dead spots and range limitations that reduce the reliability of tracking in densely packed environments such as warehouse shelves or store stockrooms. PervasID was founded to solve this problem.

The company has developed patent-protected RFID fixed reader systems that achieve near 100% accuracy over large areas, and are the first in the market to offer remote tracking capabilities. Its Trackmaster 2X system provides pinpoint location accuracy to within two metres and single-reader coverage of up to 240 square metres, including in densely packed environments where conventional readers fail. By delivering real-time, autonomous inventory visibility without manual scanning or line-of-sight requirements, PervasID enables organisations to dramatically reduce shrinkage, improve stock accuracy, and generate actionable customer purchasing insights.

The company has already secured major commercial customers including Stanley Black & Decker, NHS hospitals, and a growing roster of large retailers. A strategic partnership with SML has been signed to bring high-accuracy, hands-free UHF RFID product visibility to the retail market. PervasID has also established a second base at NETPark in County Durham, augmenting its Cambridge origins to access the growing RFID cluster and talent pool in the North East. The new capital will fund the global rollout of Trackmaster 2X, new hires, expanded customer engagement in retail and aerospace, and R&D into advanced software analytics.

Parkwalk CEO Moray Wright highlighted the rapid growth trajectory enabled by the Trackmaster 2X rollout and called PervasID a prime example of world-class innovation from the Cambridge University ecosystem. Maven's Rebecca MacDermid emphasised the business's position on the cusp of rapid growth, citing exciting customers lined up across multiple sectors. Business Durham's Sarah Slaven noted that PervasID's decision to expand into NETPark reflected the benefits of the North East's collaborative technology environment, reinforcing County Durham's credentials as a hub for pioneering technology companies.

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