A YEAR AGO MIKE SHERIDAN, PARTNER AT MOHR, Davidow Ventures (MDV) was skeptical about retailers buying Brickstream’s technology, though the company’s executives claimed that their video surveillance technology could track customer traffic patterns to save stores money and speed up checkout lines.

Brickstream’s solutions contain a suite of software that leverage in-store video technology and patented “image understanding” software to automatically and anonymously track customer movement in a brick-and-mortar environment. The Brickstream System transforms this movement data into actionable intelligence and delivers it in real-time to decision-makers.

Brickstream began operation in January 2002 with a seed capital about $1 million. In just one year since its launch, the company has marketed its wares to several retail stores, banks, and consumer packaged goods manufacturers.

Recently Brickstream received $6.2 million in its Series A financing. Venture capital firms Columbia Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures co-led the financing. Brickstream will use the new funds to expand product development and grow its sales and marketing efforts.

“The goal of this financing is to get us to profitability,” says Amir Hudda, co-founder and CEO of the company. Hudda also expects to double the company’s manpower from 15 to 30 by the end of this year.

“Brickstream's ability to close large deals with top tier retail and banking customers in the current difficult market environment validates that the company is providing a differentiated solution to an existing problem in the marketplace,” says Arun Gupta, Partner at Columbia Capital, who joins Brickstream’s board of directors.

Brickstream is the second company founded by Hudda. Previously he co-founded and was the chief executive of Entevo Corp., that developed network management software, which he sold for $125 million in early 2000.