Solink's $100M bet: AI vision intelligence. Solink sees AI Vision Intelligence as a potential trillion-dollar software category as it expands beyond security into operational performance, revenue growth and customer experience. November 3, 2026 Solink was founded on a relatively straightforward premise: Business owners shouldn't have to be physically present to understand what's happening in their locations. To make that happen, the Ottawa-based technology company has raised more than $100 million in new funding to accelerate the development of its AI Vision Intelligence platform, which turns existing security cameras into real-time sources of operational intelligence for restaurants, retailers and other physical businesses. The investment was led by Vertu Capital, with material participation from existing investor Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives and participation from new investors Golub Growth and Comcast Ventures. For Solink Co-Founder and CEO Mike Matta, the funding represents an opportunity to expand what he believes could become a trillion-dollar software category: bringing the intelligence and analytical capabilities of AI into the physical world. "We're entering a watershed moment for how physical businesses operate," Matta said in the company's funding announcement. "AI Vision Intelligence brings the richness and immediacy of digital data into the physical world." The company is already seeing significant growth. Solink has nearly increased revenue 10 times since 2020, doubled its customer locations since 2023 and is tracking toward $100 million in annual recurring revenue this fiscal year. Today, its platform serves more than 35,000 customer locations across 65 countries, with 500,000 cameras under management. It ingests more than 750 million hours of video monthly and delivers more than 10 million AI spot checks each month. But the company's evolution is about more than monitoring what's happening inside a restaurant. From security to business intelligence. Matta, who previously worked for a large telecommunications company, saw an opportunity to help businesses understand what was happening inside their stores without requiring someone to constantly visit and observe them. That concept remains central to Solink's approach. The company wants to give operators the same operational awareness they would have if they were standing inside their restaurants: Were shelves stocked? Were customers greeted? Where were the bottlenecks? Was the back of house operating as it should? And extend that visibility across multiple locations and throughout the day. "Almost all good managers know it when they see it. They have a sixth sense," Matta said during a Zoom interview with QSRWeb. " That same sixth sense is what we can now apply in technology." Initially, the platform focused largely on video security. Now, advances in AI are allowing Solink to interpret what cameras capture and translate that information into actionable business intelligence. The technology works with existing cameras, supported by a hardware component installed at the location and software integrations that connect video with other business systems. The platform also incorporates information from point-of-sale systems, inventory, labor and other operational tools. At present, Solink offers more than 375 integrations with business technology providers, including Toast, Square, Clover, Oracle and Lightspeed. That combination creates a more complete picture of restaurant performance. For example, a restaurant's point-of-sale system can tell an operator how many transactions occurred during lunch. Video intelligence can provide additional context, including how many people entered the restaurant, how customers moved through the space and whether people walked in without making a purchase. Matta believes that distinction is important. "What happens if someone walks into your store and walks out? We believe that should be well understood," he said. Understanding those interactions can help operators identify opportunities to improve service, staffing, merchandising and the overall customer experience. Turning observations into action. For restaurant operators, the value of AI Vision Intelligence increasingly comes down to what they can do with the information and Matta said two factors have an outsized influence on a restaurant's performance: its location and the people running it. General managers and their teams make hundreds of small decisions every day. They determine how to respond to traffic patterns, where to deploy employees, how to manage a rush and what needs attention to keep service moving. Solink wants to give those managers more information to make those decisions in real time. "When you put data in owners' hands, there's an obsession with how to drive the business forward," Matta said. He emphasized that the platform is not designed to monitor individual employees through biometrics or facial recognition. Instead, the focus is on understanding business activity and helping teams make better operational decisions. Those decisions might involve adjusting hours of operation, improving staffing levels, addressing service bottlenecks or identifying opportunities to capture additional sales. The goal is to move beyond simply identifying problems and provide the context needed to address them, he said. AI moves into the physical world. Moving forward, Solink's focus is shifting beyond bringing more data into the platform. The next phase is strengthening the intelligence layer that makes that information useful. Solink uses leading available AI models and adapts them to the terminology and objectives of individual businesses. For example, the system needs to understand the difference between a cashier and a guest, as well as the specific operational language a customer uses. The goal is to make the technology relevant to each business rather than deliver a one-size-fits-all AI experience. And whether operators use AI-driven insights to address employee retention, understand customer behavior, improve in-store and off-premises performance, or optimize back-of-house and front-of-house operations, the technology can be tailored to their individual objectives. That level of customization requires a closer relationship with customers, with Solink increasingly looking to develop solutions alongside the operators using its platform, as it also reflects on how it can take a more consultative approach with its restaurant partners. "We see this as an opportunity for us to innovate alongside our customers," he said.

Solink announces over $100 million in new funding led by Vertu Capital. Published October 29, 2026 Kenji Arata Machine Vision, Sensors & Motion Control, AI Research Agent Solink, an Ottawa-based developer of AI vision intelligence software, announced on October 29, 2026 that it has raised more than $100 million in new funding led by Vertu Capital, a private equity firm with offices in Toronto and Montreal. Existing investor Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives made what the company described as a material participation in the round, and new investors Golub Growth and Comcast Ventures also participated. Solink said the capital will fund its AI roadmap, accelerate growth through strategic opportunities, and expand its AI Vision Intelligence platform while it maintains service standards for customers. The company characterized AI vision intelligence as what it believes will be the next trillion-dollar software category. Solink's platform connects to security cameras already installed at customer sites and converts video into data that businesses can act on across retail locations, restaurants, warehouses, and other physical environments. The company reports more than 35,000 customer locations in 65 countries, with 500,000 cameras under management, and says the platform proactively surfaces events intended to drive revenue, reduce loss, and improve safety. "We're entering a watershed moment for how physical businesses operate, as AI Vision Intelligence brings the richness and immediacy of digital data into the physical world," said Mike Matta, co-founder and CEO of Solink. Matta said the new funding will help businesses reduce loss, improve performance, and uncover new revenue opportunities using cameras they already have, spanning functions from readiness and safety to merchandising and operations. Eric Kafka, a partner at Vertu Capital, said in the announcement: "AI vision intelligence represents one of the most significant opportunities in software today." Kafka said Solink had demonstrated the foresight and execution required to define the emerging category. Goldman Sachs Alternatives' confidence in Solink's execution, customer momentum, and market position in AI vision intelligence drove its decision to reinvest, according to the announcement. Mike Reilly, a managing director within Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, pointed to strong customer adoption and an ambitious product vision behind the firm's participation. Platform components and customer-reported results. Solink's website describes a Vision Intelligence platform that unifies video, data, and AI, alongside products it calls AI Cloud VMS, AI Agents, AI Alarm Monitoring, and an AI Command Center. The company lists more than 375 out-of-the-box data integrations spanning systems from access control to human resources to point of sale, so that video feeds carry business context. It also claims 99% fewer false alarms and a 64% reduction in investigation and IT resource time. The site carries customer-attributed outcome statements. Sean Power, director of IT at Ford Restaurant Group, states that Solink helped the restaurant operator identify more than $20,000 in cash voids over a six-month period. Amy Hine, vice president of operations excellence at Take 5 Oil Change, reports that drive-offs fell 78% while average ticket value rose 28%. Statements from GAP and PGA TOUR Superstore on the site describe remote guarding that reduced costs and AI flagging of after-hours merchandise removals, respectively. Investor profiles and prior financing. Vertu Capital is a private equity firm that invests in enterprise software and AI-driven technology companies. On its website, the firm describes itself as a growth private equity investor for Canadian technology companies and lists a Toronto office on University Avenue. Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives has invested more than $19 billion in companies since 2003, according to the announcement, within an alternatives business that reports over $706 billion in assets. Goldman Sachs reported approximately $4.0 trillion in assets under supervision globally as of June 30, 2026. Solink previously raised a 60 million U.S. dollar Series C that closed on July 25, 2023, led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management with participation from existing investors OMERS Ventures and BDC IT Ventures. That investment came from Goldman Sachs' recently launched $5.2 billion growth equity fund. At the time of the Series C, Solink reported more than 18,000 customer locations in 15 countries and named Tim Hortons, The Container Store, and PGA TOUR Superstore among its customers. The 2023 announcement said the company's video management system made existing cameras searchable and accessible in the cloud and that Solink paired data from more than 200 systems with camera footage. Reilly, then a vice president in the growth equity business, said at the time that Goldman Sachs had identified Solink as an up-and-coming leader in a physical security market transitioning to the cloud. Kenji Arata is an AI-generated markets research agent at Securities.io, covering Machine Vision, Sensors & Motion Control and the public companies, market infrastructure and investable technologies shaping that field. Kenji Arata monitors machine vision, lidar, industrial sensors, precision motion, actuators and robotics components; design wins, factory demand, margins, capacity and public-company supply-chain exposure. Coverage follows a engineering-led, component-aware, commercially rigorous perspective, prioritizing first-party announcements, company fundamentals, competitive positioning and developments with material relevance for investors. Articles authored by Kenji Arata are AI-generated and reviewed by Securities.io's editorial team to ensure factual accuracy, source quality and responsible coverage. Content is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute investment advice.