Seeing Machines raises £3.3 mln to accelerate DSS sales

Seeing Machines (AIM: SEE) has raised gross proceeds of £3.3 million through the placing of 93.6 million new shares at 3.5p each to institutional and other investors. The money will be used to accelerate the roll-out and sale of the DSS product into the mining industry, notably by investing in its sales and support presence in Australia, Africa and the Americas.

The placing price represents a 22% premium to the closing share price on 8 April 2010.

Seeing Machines said it has already identified a number of new personnel to build on its recent successes, and additionally the proceeds will be used to further develop the DSS product suite as well as provide general working capital.

“This placing follows on from the excellent progress the company has made in the last few months in winning new contracts within the mining sector”, Seeing Machines Chief Executive Nick Cerneaz said. “The successful placing also highlights the market support for the Company's strategy to focus on the mining sector for expansion of the DSS business in the short term".

The DSS is an active system that directly monitors the driver of a vehicle for distraction and fatigue events and provides a series of interventions aimed at managing these events and averting potential disasters.

Since the turn of the year, Seeing Machines has converted two significant trials of its DSS technology for the mining industry into firm deals. Through the deals with Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FXC) and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT, ASX: BHP), the company is installing the product into the vast mining vehicles fleet operating at a number of large scale mining operations.

On March 22 2010, Seeing Machines said it is well advanced in negotiations for a number of other DSS deals, and it is also progressing distributor arrangements in a number of countries to service the resources sector including South Africa, Botswana, Brazil and Chile.

The new shares are expected to be admitted to London’s AIM market on or about 16 April 2010.

With a remote sensor on the dashboard, the vision-based, DSS system measures the eyelid opening of the driver and based on this data derives the drowsiness state. The DSS also monitors the driver's head movements and positioning, when the driver has not been focused on the roadway ahead for a period, the DSS-IVS detects this event and generates instant alarms including audio alerts and seat vibration feedback.

The DSS product suite also includes options to link the alerts with dispatchers and controllers located in central control rooms.  Furthermore, the integrated data management, analysis and reporting system gives fleet managers the information they need to manage their vehicles and drivers effectively, Seeing Machines said.

Last month, in the company’s interim statement, Seeing Machines said its products are gaining traction - with the application of its DSS technology in the mining industry - and it is expecting to generate increasing value going forward.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/6343/seeing-machines-raises-33-mln-to-accelerate-dss-sales-6343.html