UK-based Telensa, which develops Smart City solutions, has emerged as the domestic leader in smart street lighting, as local governments seek ways to reduce energy consumption.

The outward looking company has sold its technology in eight countries including in China, Russia, the Middle East, and the US, in addition to the UK.

It has rolled out over 50 networks based on its Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) technology comprising a footprint of over 1 million streetlights.

The 2005-founded and profitable company has raised $18 million in further funding from ‘green’ VC Environmental Technologies Fund, in addition to debt financing from the London arm of Silicon Valley Bank.

Along with connected LED-based street lighting, which can be controlled and monitored from a central app, Telensa offers a number of other smart city applications.

Telensa technology uses street lamps themselves to provide the perfect location to piggyback other sensors, such as for measuring pollution or weather.

The company is also pioneering a smart parking solution, which would drastically cut down traffic congestion. Its vehicle detection unit uses a sensor that will send a message to the application via Telensa’s long range UNB radio system.

By aggregating these data points, drivers can be alerted to available parking spaces either in the form of electronic signage or via a consumer-facing mobile app or web interfaces. Its technology is already deployed in Moscow and Shenzhen.

Patrick Sheehan, Founder and Partner at Environmental Technologies Fund, said in a statement: “Smart City technologies are about harnessing previously isolated information and infrastructure to drive energy efficiency, automation and better decision-making. Telensa’s success is built on robust wireless technology and an application business case that works for the whole ecosystem.”