Birdsview, a Bergen-based company that describes its service as an “MRI for concrete”, has raised €3.7 million (NOK 40.5 million) to accelerate commercial and international rollout of its non-destructive concrete inspection platform.
What the funding will support
The equity round was led by a Nordic group of investors including Sarsia, Butterfly Ventures, Proptechfonden, Kiilto Ventures, Nordic Makers and Momentum. Several existing backers also increased their positions: Eviny Ventures, Farvatn Venture, Erik Bakstad (Ardoq), Gunnar Hvammen and Herman Flinder (founder of Norse Partners).
“This funding round is an important milestone for Birdsview. With €3.7 million (NOK 40.5 million) secured, and a Nordic investor consortium that understands both our technology and our market, we now have the resources to scale commercially and industrially across multiple countries. The fact that customers in eight countries have already chosen Birdsview Concrete just weeks after launch shows that we are solving a real problem for the industry,” said Olav Skogen, CEO, Birdsview.
The company was founded in 2017 by Olav Skogen and Simen Husøy in Trondheim and now operates from Bergen. It says the fresh capital will be used to strengthen commercial activities and to scale production and international deployment of its inspection service.
How the technology works
Birdsview combines Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) hardware with proprietary algorithms to convert raw sensor readings into detailed 3D models of concrete structures. The platform is positioned as a non-destructive alternative to drilling and manual inspection, intended to reduce cost, speed up assessments and lower environmental impact.
GPR emits radar pulses into material and records reflections from internal features. The industry has long recognised GPR as a powerful tool, but interpretation of raw data typically requires specialist skill and time. Birdsview asserts its software automates signal processing and interpretation, delivering ready-to-use visualisations for engineers and asset owners.
Claims, context and limits
The benefits Birdsview highlights are plausible and align with known advantages of non-destructive testing: preserving existing structures, avoiding invasive sampling, and potentially reducing both risk and lifecycle costs. The company points to early commercial traction, saying customers in eight countries adopted its product shortly after launch.
However, GPR has inherent limitations depending on material composition, moisture content and rebar congestion, which can reduce penetration depth or complicate signal interpretation. Birdsview’s pitch is that its analytical layer addresses many of these practical hurdles, but the available information does not provide independent performance benchmarks or case studies that quantify accuracy versus traditional methods.
- Funding: €3.7m (NOK 40.5m)
- Lead and participating investors: Sarsia, Butterfly Ventures, Proptechfonden, Kiilto Ventures, Nordic Makers, Momentum, plus existing investors
- Founders: Olav Skogen and Simen Husøy (founded 2017)
- Early reach: Customers in eight countries reported shortly after launch
For infrastructure owners, the critical questions will be around how the technology performs on different types of concrete, the time and cost savings over established inspection regimes, and how results integrate with maintenance and asset-management systems. Those are matters that require real-world trials and transparent reporting of detection rates, false positives and operational limits.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Investment | €3.7 million (NOK 40.5 million) |
| Investors | Sarsia, Butterfly Ventures, Proptechfonden, Kiilto Ventures, Nordic Makers, Momentum; existing investors participated |
| Technology | Ground Penetrating Radar with proprietary analysis producing 3D models |
The broader context is an industry under pressure to extend the life of existing assets rather than continually build new ones. Non-destructive inspection tools that can reliably map internal defects and reinforcement layout have obvious appeal to operators of bridges, tunnels, parking structures and industrial facilities. If Birdsview’s platform can be validated at scale, it could reduce unnecessary interventions and help target repairs more efficiently.
Investors backing the round suggest confidence in the team and the market opportunity: a Nordic consortium that includes both specialist and generalist investors has taken part, and several founding backers increased exposure. The company’s next test will be turning reported early interest into repeatable projects, publishing performance data that allows engineers to compare methods, and embedding its output into the workflows of asset owners and maintenance contractors.
For now, the financing gives Birdsview the resources to push commercial expansion and further develop its analytical stack. The promising part of the story is less the fundraising itself and more whether the technology can deliver consistent, demonstrable improvements in how concrete assets are inspected and maintained.
