Bentley Systems has awarded four innovative startups up to $250,000 as part of its annual accelerator program, including a Las Vegas firm that transforms drone scans into explorable 3D environments and an Amsterdam-based startup that creates photoreal CGI visuals for online businesses.
iTwin Activate is a program that fosters collaboration between Bentley, the infrastructure engineering software company, and early-stage startups in the industry. The 2025 program is focused on companies that use 3D geospatial data to improve infrastructure such as roads, railways, bridges, water networks, and the electric grid. This year’s selected companies work in a wide array of fields, including e-commerce, construction design, railway and highway maintenance, and urban asset management.
“The intent of the program is to support our objective of growing an ecosystem of folks building on our platform technology,” says James Kress, director of digital acceleration for iTwin Ventures at Bentley Systems, who runs the program.
During the four-month program, each startup will build a project on Cesium and 3D Tiles, an open standard created by Cesium. (Bentley acquired Cesium in 2024.) They’ll be supported by technical experts, gaining additional industry and market insights from Bentley’s product leaders. Participants will also receive funding of up to $250,000 each to build and accelerate their product.
“We do a lot at Bentley, but we don’t do everything,” Kress says. “These startups, these partners, are going to help us fill gaps. And they’re going to build things in their areas that complement the things that we do, building them on Bentley platforms, so it’s easy for our users to take advantage of them.”
Here is the 2025 cohort:
AERO AI, a Las Vegas-based startup that helps users transform drone imagery, BIM models, and other data into fully immersive, explorable 3D environments. The interactive visualizations help engineering and infrastructure professionals better plan, design, and manage the built world.
The Cross Product (TCP), a French startup that automates the processing of LiDAR data for railways and highways. TCP solutions allow users to automate inspections, inventories, and measurements across hundreds or thousands of kilometers of railway. (This is the second year in a row that TCP has been selected for iTwin Activate.)
Jakarto, a startup based in Montreal whose digital twin and AI-powered solutions map, visualize, and manage urban assets—everything from trees to street signs to overhead networks. The aim: faster decisions, reduced field visits, and improved asset management.
SuperDNA 3D Lab, based in Amsterdam, creates photoreal CGI visuals for online businesses to replace traditional photoshoots. The company, which is expanding into supporting transportation use cases, has delivered over 200,000 visuals for Amazon, Meta, Wayfair, and other firms under the motto, “If you sell online, chances are you’ve already used SuperDNA. You just didn’t know it.”
Cesium efficiently manages and visualizes 3D geospatial data, and it’s used to create immersive experiences that mirror the real world. Engineers can use the technology to bring to life detailed digital twins of their projects, which gives them an intuitive way to search for, query, and visualize information. Public-facing applications of Cesium include NORAD’s Santa tracker and the visualized event locations during NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Summer Games. There are even 3D Tilesets of the Moon and Mars.
Startups previously supported by iTwin Activate, which is now in its fourth year, include Roebling Labs, which uses cameras with motion amplification to monitor bridges. While participating in iTwin Activate, Roebling Labs built a “smart bridge in a box,” bringing their bridge monitoring system data into Bentley’s iTwin platform to create a dashboard for their video-based bridge monitoring service.
Kress says the goal of iTwin Activate is to get people building on multiple Bentley platforms. He points to TheCrossProduct, which last year built a project on OpenRail, Bentley’s rail design software; this year, the company is building on Cesium.
“I think that’s a great story of, ‘We have a lot to offer, but it’s not just one thing for a particular partner.’ They can build on – and we want them to build on and see value in building on – multiple platforms and products.”
Kathleen Moore is a journalist, editor, and educator. Most recently, she led a 50-person-strong team covering Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
