Basemark

Company Overview

Basemark is an automotive software company specializing in augmented reality (AR) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) visualizations for next-generation software-defined vehicles. Founded in April 2015 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Basemark provides software solutions and tooling for automotive AR application development, including video AR, AR navigation, AR heads-up displays (HUDs), and AR instrument clusters.

The company’s flagship product is Rocksolid AR, a complete software suite for rapid AR development and deployment in automotive environments. Basemark also offers professional services to support automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in AR, ADAS, and HMI development projects.

Basemark has two wholly owned subsidiaries - Basemark Inc. in the US and Basemark GmbH in Germany. The majority of company shares are held by founders and key employees, with the remainder held by individual angel investors.

Products Overview

Basemark’s key products and services include:

1. Rocksolid AR - A full software suite for automotive AR development, consisting of:
   • AR Studio: A visual low-code AR editor tool
   • AR SDK: Manages critical AR optimization tasks
   • AR Runtimes: For deployment on automotive hardware

2. Basemark Automotive Test Suite (BATS) - A performance evaluation tool for automotive SoCs, featuring real-world workloads for machine vision, instrument clusters, and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

3. Rocksolid Compute - A cross-platform library of accelerated math operations and reference implementations for computer vision, inferencing, and ADAS functionalities.

4. Professional Services - Automotive software development services covering the entire V-cycle, from proof-of-concept to series production.

5. GPU Benchmarks - Graphics performance benchmarks and testing suites for consumer devices.

Founding Team

The key management team includes:

• Tero Sarkkinen - Founder & CEO
• Sami Niska - COO
• Minna Karttunen - CFO
• Paula Wranger - CPO
• Soma Muthumanickam - CTO

Problem and Market Fit

Basemark addresses the growing need for advanced AR and ADAS visualizations in the automotive industry as vehicles become increasingly software-defined. Traditional AR tools were not built with automotive applications in mind and don’t perform well in moving vehicles. Basemark’s solutions are specifically designed to solve unique challenges in automotive AR, such as latency optimization, precise localization, and occlusion management.

Business Model

Basemark operates on a B2B model, providing software licenses, tools, and professional services to automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, semiconductor companies, and other players in the automotive industry. Their solutions help customers develop and deploy AR applications for various in-vehicle displays more efficiently.

Competitive Landscape

While specific competitors are not mentioned, Basemark positions itself as a specialized provider of automotive AR solutions. The company emphasizes its focus on solving automotive-specific challenges that general-purpose AR tools cannot adequately address.

Customers

Basemark lists several high-profile customers on their website, including:

BMW, DAF, Karma, Kenworth, KPIT, Lamborghini, Peterbilt, Renault, Visteon, ARM, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Samsung.

Relevant News

• March 28, 2024: Basemark was selected to join the EIC Scaling Club network as one of Europe’s highest-potential deep tech scale-ups.

• An undisclosed date (likely recent): Basemark raised €22 million to make driving safer with augmented reality. The funding will support the development of an advanced AI-based computer vision system for rapid automotive AR development and deployment.