Dräger Safety invests in Kuva Systems

Dräger Safety AG & Co. KGaA announced that after an initial investment in the company in 2018, it has now made a follow-on equity investment in Kuva Systems.

The Kuva platform is a camera-based methane monitoring solution cantered on color-coded video clips of invisible gas that are automatically generated when emission events are detected. By making the invisible measurable, and thereby manageable, Kuva enables the oil and gas industry to continuously identify and reduce methane leaks as they occur and thereby meet ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and methane intensity goals. The Kuva technology is a breakthrough because, unlike other infrared camera solutions, it is not confused by the variability that thermal infrared background radiation creates in a scene. This allows for confident automated gas detection.

The financing round also includes follow-on investments by investors from the Clean Energy Venture Group and Launchpad Venture Group. Formerly known as MultiSensor Scientific, the company has concurrently rebranded as Kuva Systems to better reflect the industrial focus that is core to its mission.

Methane is a carbon dioxide-like greenhouse gas. Leading oil and gas firms have made self-commitments to reduce their methane emissions as part of net-zero emission goals. Methane emissions from the global oil and gas industry currently contribute to climate change at double the rate of worldwide airplane traffic.

“We’ve been impressed by the progress of the Kuva team,” said Bernhard Mohr, Vice President Processing Industries, Dräger Safety. “Methane emissions are an extraordinary challenge for the oil and gas industry, both economic and environmental. The Kuva cloud-based gas monitoring service and low-cost infrared camera technology set them up as an unparalleled solution.”

“Continuous monitoring and quantification of methane emissions complement once-a-year optical gas inspections called for by regulations. Companies want to detect major emissions from abnormal system operations at high-risk sites immediately, recapture lost revenues from leaks, and demonstrate clean operations to investors, customers and the public,” said Stefan Bokaemper, CEO, Kuva Systems. “Unlike installed point detectors, a camera-based monitoring solution eliminates the need for expensive secondary inspections, minimizes false positives, and thereby lowers the total-cost-of-ownership.”

“While science is the foundation of our technology,” Bokaemper adds, “we chose to rebrand from MultiSensor Scientific to Kuva to reflect the industrial focus of our solution.”

Kuva Systems is starting field installations at up to 100 sites in Alberta, Canada. Additional field testing in Texas will start in October.