Baton Rouge’s Providence Photonics has reportedly received a $2 million investment from national thermal imaging company FLIR Systems for software rights.
The investment will give FLIR, an S&P 500 company, exclusive access to Providence-developed software that can quantify invisible gas emissions, according to the 10/12 Industry Report. Paired with Optical Gas Imaging cameras, FLIR plans to market this new software to oil and gas industry customers.
The financial details of the investment are unknown, but Providence Photonics reported a $2 million equity investment to the SEC in November.
Tim McDowd, director of communications for FLIR Systems, declined to confirm the $2 million figure, saying, “We didn’t disclose the amount for this investment, which is standard for our minority investments. I can say the amount is not material with respect to the company’s market cap.”
A Providence spokesperson for the project couldn’t be reached for comment.
Providence Photonics is a subsidiary of Providence Holding, also based in Baton Rouge. The company specializes in optical gas imaging technology and has also partnered with Lockheed Martin and Surface Optics to create a flare monitor called Mantis, a video imaging spectral radiometry. Mantis is the first easily deployable monitor that directly measures methane emissions using IR images to measure how efficiently flares consume emissions, 10/12 reported.
They’re known for pursuing some of the most challenging environmental safety problems.
“This investment enables to us to better serve our existing oil and gas industry customers who rely on our optical gas imaging technology to improve efficiency and safety, while ensuring compliance with methane mitigation regulations,” Frank Pennisi, president of the Industrial Business Unit at FLIR, says in a prepared statement.
