NavVis

The journey of NavVis began with a visionary spark in 2007. While at the Stanford University GPS Lab, a PhD student named Georg Schroth conceived of a revolutionary approach to indoor positioning rooted in computer vision. This seed of an idea would lay the groundwork for a company that would redefine how we interact with the built environment. The concept began to take concrete shape in 2011, when Schroth's research received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, allowing him to bring on board Robert Huitl and Sebastian Hilsenbeck. The trio's academic project was destined for the commercial world, and in 2013, the final piece of the founding puzzle fell into place when McKinsey consultant Felix Reinshagen joined the team. Together, these four founders launched NavVis, a startup incubated with the crucial support of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

From its inception, NavVis was driven by the mission to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. The company's innovative technology, centered around Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), enables the rapid and accurate creation of photorealistic digital twins of buildings and assets. This wasn't just about creating 3D models; it was about providing immersive, actionable spatial data that could empower businesses across various sectors. Early on, NavVis secured the trust of major enterprises like BMW, Daimler, and Allianz, who saw the immense potential in digitizing their facilities for enhanced operational efficiency and smarter decision-making. This early adoption by industry leaders was a powerful validation of the founders' vision. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, NavVis has since expanded its global footprint with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, serving a worldwide clientele in the surveying, AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction), and manufacturing industries. Their story is one of relentless innovation, transforming a novel academic concept into a global standard for indoor spatial intelligence and digital twin technology.