The Sensen Networks Ltd (ASX: SNS) share price rocketed today, rising 27.27% to close today's trade at 14 cents a share. Sensen shares closed at 11 cents a share yesterday and opened at the same price this morning, before shooting up to their current level this afternoon.
Today's open at 11 cents a share is actually the same price as Sensen shares were going for back in January, meaning the share price is now flat for the year. Even so, this company dipped as low as 5.2 cents a share back in March, so any lucky investor who picked up shares then is sitting tight on a gain of more than 100% on today's prices.
So who is Sensen? And why did this company's share price spike so dramatically today?
Sen-who?
Sensen is a business with that most sought-after moniker attached to its name – an AI (artificial intelligence) company. More specifically, Sensen calls itself a "world-leading, data-fusion enterprise" that applies "ingenuity to develop AI-powered products and solutions that address the needs of our increasingly urbanising society."
It states:
We work with councils and the private sector to reduce road accidents, ease traffic congestion and automate monotonous, laborious tasks. In doing this, we strengthen local economies and simplify city administration, empowering those managing our urban livelihoods.
Sensen builds its business model on a platform called SenDISA. This platform takes raw input data from sources like cameras, smartphones, LIDARs and other sensors and interprets it for use in a wide variety of applications, which are divided into 'Roads and Parking' and Buildings and Spaces'.
'Roads and Parking' includes applications like road safety, parking, traffic analysis and tolling. 'Buildings and Spaces' includes applications like measuring traffic through 'buildings and spaces' like retail shops, shopping centres and casinos.
The SenDISA platform can also be altered for specific purposes, including SenFORCE (used for law enforcement operations) and SenGAME (real-time intelligence for games and the gaming industry).
SenDISA has been in the making for over 10 years, and according to the company it has "multiple patents awarded and pending". It also works in conjunction with technology from some of the world's best tech companies, including NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA).
Why are Sensen shares racing ahead today?
Sensen's rocketing share price today can most likely be put down to an announcement the company made today. That came just after 2 pm and detailed the company's acquisition of Snap Network Surveillance. Snap is a private company, founded in 2009 and based in Adelaide
Sensen describes Snap as a "world-leader in AI-powered multi-camera tracking software" which allows it to use "surveillance camera operators to efficiently track persons of interest over large-scale video surveillance environments".
Sensen notes that the company has been making inroads into the casino market, especially in the United States, which is an area Sensen is targeting for growth. The company told investors that it plans on integrating Snap's technology into its SenDISA platform.
The takeover will involve Sensen acquiring all intellectual property including patents, trademarks and know-how from Snap, for a price of $1 million. The acquisition will be made via the issuance of 9,881,423 new shares, priced at 10.12 cents a share.
It appears investors have given this acquisition their blessing, judging by today's share price performance.
