Capital firm secures Shell deal

Cognitive Geology, an Edinburgh-based technology startup, has secured a $1.2 million (£872,000) contract with oil giant Shell for its geological mapping software.

The deal will see the capital firm’s product deployed globally within the Shell empire. A second deal, of an undisclosed value, has been struck with Baker Hughes to bundle the Cognitive technology into its own software.

Founded by geologist Luke Johnson in 2014, Cognitive Geology designs and builds specialist software for geoscientists in the oil and gas industries, and is said to improve accuracy in finding, appraising and developing oil and gas reserves.

The venture recently raised a $2.7m seed funding round from Glasgow-headquartered Maven Capital Partners and Enzo Ventures to promote its geological data analysis products and to further develop a range of technologies for the oil and gas industry.

The geoscience software industry is estimated to be worth $4.5 billion and this figure is predicted to double over the next few years as out-dated software is replaced by next generation technology.

Cognitive Geology said it has ambitious plans to disrupt this potentially lucrative sector.

Johnson, founder and chief executive, believes that the fledgling business is ready to take on industry giants such as Schlumberger and Halliburton.

He said: “Much of the technology used currently by geoscientists is antiquated and here in Scotland we have the talent and ambition to challenge this. Having one of the biggest corporations in the world, Shell, using one of our products simply confirms to us that as a start-up we can compete with the established behemoths in the industry.”