University of Victoria student's tech startup soars to new heights
A tech startup company that began with a University of Victoria student’s idea to make bridges and dams safer has grown to new heights in less than two years, raising over $2 million and employing more than 25 people.
Niricson Software Inc. uses drones to fly around large civil infrastructure projects to assess and collect data that can be analyzed in real-time with its proprietary software.
The system is faster, cheaper, and better than conventional methods of inspection, providing detailed visual, thermal and acoustic analysis of large concrete infrastructure.
CEO Harsh Rathod co-founded the company along with Seattle-based Aki Tomita at the beginning of 2020.
Demand for its services has been high, growing exponentially in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
"Right now, we are still at a scale of 10, 15, 20 projects, and some of our clients are asking if we [can] deploy this technology for 500 bridges or 100 dams," says Rathod. "That is big surprise for us."
He says the company is not a drone company but rather an analytics company. Drones are just a tool to collect the data from difficult areas to reach.
He gives one example of a project they are working on that has shown over a million very small cracks in a piece of infrastructure, mainly undetectable visually.
If engineers were to inspect the piece of infrastructure manually, it would take almost two years to complete at 10 times the cost, according to Rathod. Niricson can do a more thorough job in just two months, saving time and money for the client, he says.
Rathod hopes his company can detect possible infrastructure problems before they happen, lessening impacts on life, property and the environment.
Niricson’s system also enables asset owners to inspect their structures more frequently, providing them with the insight to make maintenance decisions sooner, according to the company.
“Once we start understanding what the trend is looking like, we can be proactive rather than reactive,” says Rathod. "So clients don’t need to chase the repairs, they can actually plan for the repairs."
Niricson is working hard to hire engineers and software developers, adding about three new employees a month.
As the company becomes more global, Rathod expects they will be employing about 100 people by the end of next year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.