Q-SYS, a leading audio, video and control platform based in California, which is part of audio product company QSC, has announced an agreement to acquire our portfolio company Seervision. Verve has backed the spin-off from ETH Zurich’s Automatic Control Laboratory since its Seed round in 2018.

The idea of Seervision was born during a lecture at ETH Zurich. Nikos Kariotoglou was pursuing a Ph.D. within the Automatic Control Laboratory. Professor John Lygeros made a joke about the camera system in the room, which was tracking the motions of the lecturer, but too slowly. “I’m sure you could do a better job than this,” he joked.

Nikos didn’t just laugh. He took it to heart.

Together with a colleague, he took a couple of video cameras, developed the mathematical models that underlie autonomous systems, and programmed the software for the first prototype. That was the idea on which the company Seervision was established in 2016.

Today, the system is used in meeting rooms, lecture halls, studios, and other spaces to enable hybrid collaboration and simplify audio-visual operations. It allows autonomous control of multiple cameras with smooth, broadcast-quality motions.

In 2018, Verve backed Seervision alongside high-profile business angels and the accelerator Wyss Center Zurich in its Seed financing round. Michael Blank, who led Verve’s investment in the company, wrote that Seervision’s system “is a unique fusion of software and hardware capabilities that outperforms human operators under real-world conditions.” At the same time, the founding team managed to assemble a team of experts in the domain of camera control, computer vision and video production. This, together with the strong board of directors, which included the seasoned entrepreneurs Tom Sulzer and Stephan Würmlin (who founded and exited ETH spin-off Liberovision) and the former CEO of the Swiss broadcasting company SRF) convinced us to invest.

Invest in Startups

As one of Europe’s most active venture capital investors, we grant qualified private investors access to top-tier European startups. With investments starting at EUR/CHF 10’000, you can build your own tailored portfolio over time and diversify across stages and sectors.

In 2021, Verve led another financing round of Seervision to accelerate the market expansion which was joined by high-tech VC Metavallon, ZKB, and EIC. In the meantime, Verve’s team also spent a lot of time with Seervision. “One of the most important things that startups need is people with the knowledge and time to dig into a specific operational problem together with the founders and the team. I mean to solve problems by sitting together workshop-style. Verve Ventures does exactly that, and I have found this extremely helpful”, Nikos said in an interview.

With the acquisition by Q-SYS, Seervision is now taking the next big step forward. “Together with Q-SYS, we envision an ecosystem that fosters innovation and delivers novel capabilities and solutions to our diverse markets and customers. We are ready to shape the future of AV technology”, Nikos was quoted in the press release accompanying the transaction. As part of it, the Seervision founders and team will join QSC.

Verve Ventures’ team is thankful for the opportunity to work with Seervision’s team on their way so far, extends congratulations to the founders on the transaction and wishes everyone the best of luck in their new journey that has now begun.