Taqtile Announces $5M Equity Raise Supporting Global Deployment of Manifest, the Leading AR-Enabled Work Instruction Platform for Industry and Defense

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Taqtile, Inc., maker of Manifest®, the leading augmented reality (AR)-enabled work-instruction platform for deskless workers, announces completion of a $5 million preferred equity round. The Seattle-based company will utilize proceeds to increase sales and marketing efforts, reinforce engineering and development teams and increase its global footprint through its extensive partnership network.

Manifest solves an acute business problem plaguing many companies: Managing the widening skills gap among frontline workers performing essential and complex tasks. In a tight labor market with up to one third of deskless workers set to retire over the next five years, Manifest’s advanced technology and exceptional usability fundamentally changes how companies support their employees with modern digital tools and improves the overall safety and performance of their businesses.

“Taqtile continues to see robust adoption and accelerated deployment of Manifest across all sectors, including defense, manufacturing, transportation, aircraft MRO, logistics, pharmaceuticals, and others,” stated Taqtile CEO Dirck Schou. “Taqtile’s global partners are absolutely critical to our mission, and this financing will allow us to do a much better job supporting and enabling our partner ecosystem.” Taqtile’s partners include Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI, Nokia, Verizon, T-Mobile, Accenture, Microsoft, Amazon AWS, and many more.

Investors in this round include Mesmerise, a London-based creator of AR and virtual reality (VR) immersive technologies for enterprise customers, as well as Downer Group, a publicly traded Australian industrial and defense systems integrator. Bellevue, WA-based 5G Open Innovation Lab, and tech-focused Ascend, a Seattle, WA-based venture capital fund, have also invested in Taqtile.

Downer Group (ASX: DOW), which is the leading provider of integrated services in Australia and New Zealand, is both a Taqtile investor and strategic partner. Downer is working in partnership with Taqtile to enable the transformation of frontline work across the company’s 33,000-strong workforce. Close collaboration between Downer and Taqtile has already begun and will continue to grow across major defense and infrastructure projects in Australia and New Zealand.

Downer Group Chief Executive Officer, Grant Fenn, said the partnership with Taqtile would help the organization continue to deliver outstanding results for its customers. “Downer’s partnership with Taqtile will enhance the way our frontline work is performed,” Mr. Fenn said. “The services Downer delivers for our customers impact the lives of millions of people across Australia and New Zealand every day, so it is important that we implement industry-leading technology to support the productivity, efficiency and safety of our operations.”

“We were incredibly impressed with Taqtile’s unique and sophisticated approach using AR for operational enablement, remote assistance, multi-user collaboration and job audit functions,” said Mesmerise Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, Daglar Cizmeci. “With an aging workforce, it is critical to capture proprietary knowledge to ensure that the next generation of deskless workers learn quickly and efficiently. We see a comprehensive set of use-cases at our affiliated company, myTechnic, a large aircraft MRO facility in Istanbul, Turkey, and look forward to implementing Manifest there shortly.”

Taqtile creates the tools of tomorrow that improve processes and workflows, train the next generation of hands-on workers, and eliminate the barriers between machine and operator, location, and time. By leveraging proven technologies, including AR, 3D visualization, and real-time collaborative communication, Taqtile’s Manifest platform empowers deskless workers to complete complex tasks more efficiently, completely, and safely than ever.