What Aqua Cosmos does

Aqua Cosmos Co., Ltd. (アクアコスモス株式会社) is a privately held Japanese technology company headquartered in Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo that commercializes proprietary Computer Vision (CV) technology originally developed by its affiliated group company, Iwane Research Institute (株式会社岩根研究所). The company's central capability is converting omnidirectional spherical camera imagery — from drones, ground vehicles, and pedestrians — directly into 3D coordinate maps using only image processing combined with GPS, deliberately avoiding laser point clouds and Gyro/IMU sensors. Its product portfolio comprises three core assets: the Sky CV Service (drone-based aerial 3D mapping), the Walk CV Service (pedestrian-based 3D mapping launched in November 2018), and a 3D Spatial Coordinate Database Archive Service that operates as a cloud-based data platform for smart city, autonomous driving, and facility management applications. Supporting viewer platforms (ALV, WebALP, MAX ALV) complete the offering.

The company targets a horizontal set of B2B use cases including infrastructure and facility inspection, construction progress documentation, autonomous driving and robotics localization, government and urban planning, and tourism/navigation. Its go-to-market is event-driven and sales-led, built around an aggressive trade-show presence in Japan (Japan Drone, Location Business Japan, CEATEC JAPAN, G-Spatial EXPO, CSPI-EXPO, SATEX, Maintenance/Resilience Tokyo, NTT DATA OPEN INNOVATION) supplemented by direct website inquiries. Revenue mechanics are described as subscription/recurring across the three core services, but no public pricing tiers are disclosed and the service is offered on a quote-based basis. The company has accumulated multiple innovation awards between 2017 and 2019, including the Application Division Most Outstanding Award at the 4th Japan Drone 2019, and co-founded the CV Business Research Group industry forum.

Operationally, Aqua Cosmos is a small, founder-led organization under President Kazuo Iwane (岩根和郎), with no disclosed funding rounds, no public listing, no visible headcount, and no named customer logos. The office address is a residential apartment building (Nichirei Higashi Ginza Residence), which is consistent with a very early-stage commercialization profile. The most recent dated activity in the input data is from 2019, and the company's ongoing reliance on its Iwane Research Institute relationship for core CV IP is a material structural feature of the business.

Name

Aqua Cosmos

Legal name

株式会社アクアコスモス

Website

https://aquacosmos.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aqua Cosmos Co., Ltd. is a Tokyo-based Japanese company that converts drone and pedestrian spherical camera imagery into 3D coordinate maps using proprietary computer vision technology, serving infrastructure inspectors, autonomous driving/robotics developers, and smart city planners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Computer Vision 3D Mapping Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Search, Detection, Navagation, Guidance, Aeronautical Sys (3812), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Remote Sensing & Geospatial Vision (satellite/drone imagery) (HDAAAEAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

3D Vision, Depth Sensing & Point Cloud Analytics (HDAAAEAK), Autonomy Software, AI & Mission Management (UAS/UXV) (IMABAIAH), Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM)

Keywords

• 3D mapping software
• Computer vision technology
• Drone aerial mapping
• Spatial data platform
• Image-based surveying

Headquarters

HQ city

Chuo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Sky CV Service: Processing service for drone aerial imagery to create 3D maps. Customers upload video files (up to 15GB) for cloud-based processing including 3D measurement, information tagging, and digitization.
2. Walk CV Service: Pedestrian imagery-based 3D mapping service for facility inspection, management, and smart city applications.
3. 3D Spatial Coordinate Database Archive: Cloud-based archiving and storage service for 3D spatial coordinate databases, serving as foundation for smart city platforms, autonomous driving maps, and facility management.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Aqua Cosmos develops and operates a computer vision (CV) platform that converts video imagery captured by drones (Sky CV Service) and pedestrians (Walk CV Service) into 3D coordinate-linked maps using only image processing and GPS, without laser point clouds or inertial sensors. The resulting maps are stored and shared via a cloud-based 3D Spatial Coordinate Database Archive Service used for infrastructure inspection, autonomous driving, robotics, disaster prevention, and asset management.

Product overview

Aqua Cosmos operates as a platform-plus-services provider centered on CV (Computer Vision) technology that converts video footage directly into 3D maps. The core portfolio consists of Sky CV Service (drone-based aerial 3D mapping), Walk CV Service (pedestrian-based 3D mapping), and a 3D Spatial Coordinate Database Archive Service. Together, these services enable creation of a 'Digital Parallel World' where aerial, ground-level, and walking perspectives are merged into comprehensive 3D spatial databases. The company also offers ALV/WebALP/MAX ALV viewer platforms. All products leverage cloud infrastructure for data processing and distribution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• スカイCVサービス (Sky CV Service): ドローンによる空撮映像を処理する3D地図作製サービス
• ウォークCVサービス (Walk CV Service)

Products and services

• Sky CV Service Drone-based aerial 3D mapping service that uses spherical imagery and computer vision (with only image processing and GPS) to generate 3D coordinate-linked maps of areas such as roads, bridges, buildings, and large sites, targeting infrastructure inspection, asset management, autonomous driving map production, and disaster-prevention monitoring.
• Walk CV Service Pedestrian-based ground-level 3D mapping service that captures spherical imagery on foot and applies the same computer vision pipeline to produce 3D coordinate-linked maps, used where ground-level detail is required and laser/inertial-sensor-based systems are impractical or too costly.
• 3D Spatial Coordinate Database Archive Service Cloud-based archive and sharing service for the 3D coordinate-linked maps produced by Sky CV and Walk CV, allowing infrastructure managers, autonomous-vehicle/robotics developers, government agencies, and other stakeholders to store, retrieve, and share standardized 3D spatial data across teams and organizations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Awarded Best-in-Show (Application Division) at 4th Japan Drone 2019, demonstrating industry recognition of technology and application value.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Iwane Research Institute (株式会社 岩根研究所)coreTechnology or IntegrationIwane Research Institute is the parent/group company and sole technology provider of CV Technology (Computer Vision) to Aqua Cosmos. This is a technology licensing and group company relationship where Iwane Research Institute's proprietary image processing technology forms the core of Aqua Cosmos's 3D mapping services.
• CV Business Research Group (CVビジネス研究会)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAqua Cosmos co-founded and actively participates in the CV Business Research Group, an industry association focused on promoting computer vision technology applications and fostering collaboration among member companies in the CV/3D mapping space.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• senseFly (Parrot): Drone manufacturer and mapping software provider (eParrot-owned) offering fixed-wing UAS plus photogrammetry workflows for survey and inspection — comparable end-to-end drone-to-3D-map stack.
• Pix4D: Switzerland-based photogrammetry software that converts drone and ground imagery into 3D maps and point clouds. Closely comparable to Aqua Cosmos's image-to-3D mapping pipeline, with a broader global commercial footprint.
• DroneDeploy: Cloud platform for drone-based mapping, 3D modeling, and site inspection. Directly comparable to Sky CV Service, with stronger enterprise adoption in construction and agriculture.
• GeoSLAM: Provider of mobile/handheld and pedestrian SLAM-based 3D mapping solutions. Directly comparable to Walk CV Service for indoor and pedestrian geospatial capture.
• Matterport: Camera-based 3D spatial capture platform for buildings and indoor environments. Closely comparable to Walk CV in turning imagery into navigable 3D spatial data without LiDAR.

Broad incumbents

• HERE Technologies: Global location data and mapping platform serving automotive, logistics, and enterprise. Comparable as a large incumbent supplying 3D/HDR map data for autonomous navigation.
• Leica Geosystems (Hexagon): Surveying, laser scanning, and geospatial measurement hardware/software vendor. Comparable in delivering 3D mapping and navigation/guidance systems for infrastructure and aerial platforms.
• Mapbox: Major mapping platform providing tiles, navigation, and location services. Comparable as a broader geospatial platform serving autonomous driving and smart-city applications.
• Bentley Systems (iTwin Capture / ContextCapture): Infrastructure engineering software vendor with reality-modeling tools that turn imagery into 3D models for digital twins. Comparable in the infrastructure/facility management use case.

Emerging players

• Cesium: 3D geospatial visualization and tiling platform (CesiumJS / ion). Comparable on the 3D spatial data platform side, including digital-twin and AR/VR use cases.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aqua Cosmos