Tech Story

CalAmp – Pioneering A Shift In The Connected Vehicle Sector.

The wireless communications sector is a dynamic business that necessitates ongoing adaptation on the part of producers, marketers, and customers alike. CalAmp has remained at the top of its market for almost 30 years by remaining agile enough to customize apps for clients on the go. CalAmp has established itself as a market leader in the mobile resource management (MRM) and machine-to-machine (M2M) arena. CalAmp connects clients to critical business information and turns it into usable intelligence for people, systems, and machines. CalAmp GPS devices are widely used in a variety of regional markets, including the United States, Canada, and the European Union

About CalAmp

CalAmp is a linked intelligence startup that helps individuals and organizations work more efficiently. They collaborate with the transportation and logistics, industrial equipment, government, and automotive industries to provide data that helps companies make better decisions. Their software, platforms, and smart devices enable them to track, monitor, and recover critical assets in real time, lowering costs, increasing productivity, and increasing safety. They have over 20 million products deployed worldwide and approximately one million software and service subscribers.

The Founding

The company is a provider of Internet of Things software applications, cloud services, data intelligence, and telematics products and services based in Irvine, California. Previously known as California Amplifier Inc., it was created in 1981 in Newbury Park, California, by Jacob Inbar and David Nichols, who met while working at Eaton Corporation’s microwave business. The company started by making microwave signal amplifiers and other equipment for satellite television and broadband communications.

Following a successful first half of the decade, California Amplifier’s financial strength declined in the second part of the decade. As the company experienced downturns in both of its business sectors, the revenue total recorded in 1996 became the highest of the decade. In January 1998, California Amplifier restructured its organization, forming three business units: satellite goods, wireless cable products, and voice and data products. In September 1999, the company made more changes when it merged its wireless cable and voice and data units into a single entity called wireless access products.

CalAmp, like many other businesses, has rebounded from the economic slump that began in 2008. Friedlander is pleased with the company’s unrestricted growth as the economy begins to warm.

Perpetual Growth

In an industry where the next technical improvement that alters the game is always on the horizon, companies like CalAmp must stay on top of these developments.

Friedlander recently explained that CalAmp has updated its hardware components for rail and Positive Train Control (PTC) compliance, as well as for FirstNet/B14, a communication server used by first responders across the country. Similarly, the company has improved its SaaS for mobile applications for customers with vehicle loans or fleet management.

Although the hardware is an important part of their services, CalAmp is also a full-service solutions provider, offering not only devices and industry-leading embedded firmware, but also a suite of market-leading software applications and a platform on which their customers may develop.

Jeff Gardner- CEO of CalAmp

Jeff Gardner, CalAmp’s dynamic CEO, has guided the business’s strategic evolution from a telematics device company to a leading software-as-a-service supplier of linked intelligence about vehicles, drivers, assets, and cargo. CalAmp has become the premier partner to market leaders in transportation & logistics, government & municipalities, insurance, and construction under Gardner’s leadership, enabling them to track, monitor, and recover vital assets with real-time visibility and insights—ultimately helping the world work efficiently so that individuals and corporations everywhere can proser.

Gardner was a member of CalAmp’s Board of Directors before becoming CEO, and he previously served as CEO of Brinks Home Security and President and CEO of Windstream. Gardner is known for bringing fast-paced enterprises to industry-leading success as an executive leader. To execute strategy, promote growth, and foster extraordinary, collaborative governance and world-class succession planning, he uses smart analysis, tough operational KPIs, consistent communications, and a passionate team approach.

Team YTS

Spire Global – A Data Analytics Company Harnessing The Power Of Satellite Technology.

Founded in 2012, Spire Global is a data and analytics company that is known for tracking global data and using satellite technology for weather forecasting and other aviation patterns. The founders of the company are Peter Platzer, Joel Spark, and Jeroen Cappaert. Spire Global currently has around 250 employees who are serving customers from across the world. The headquarters of the company is based in San Francisco, California. Apart from San Francisco, Spire Global has offices in Boulder, Luxembourg, Washington DC, Cambridge, Singapore, and Glasgow.

Early Days

When Spire Global was founded, its original name was NanoSatisfi Inc. The three founders of company are International Space University graduates and they founded the company as a part of the project, ArduSat. This project aimed toward democratizing access to space. Testing of the early prototypes was financially backed through crowdfunding a Kickstarter. Through this crowdfunding, Spire Global was able to raise $106,330. In November 2012, the company signed an agreement with NanoRacks for the deployment of satellites. The deployment of these two satellites became famous because it was the first US Commercial Satellite Deployment from the International Space Station.

Spire Global required a massive amount of capital for building those satellites. For this reason, the company incubated with Lemnos Labs, and Spire raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round. The main investors were E-merge, Shasta Ventures, Lemnos Labs, Grishin Robotics, and Beamonte Investments. After one year of working in partnership with NanoRacks, the company was successfully able to release ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X (1U CubeSats). After their release from the ISS, Spire Global quickly started transmitting data to the company’s servers.

Growth and Expansion

After 1U CubeSats, the experts at Spire Global took interest in 3U nanosatellites so that they can start porting more complex payloads. Within seven months, the company transitioned from 1U to 3U and launched the first prototype in 2014. In July of the same year, the company hosted a Series A funding round and was able to raise $25 million. This funding round was led by Will Porteous from RRE Ventures and was also backed by Emerge, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment, and Mousse Partners Capital. ArduSat was a spin-off from the company as it decided to focus exclusively on educational technology. By the end of 2014 ended, Spire opened a new office in Singapore and eventually started expanding the network.

In 2015, the Series B funding round took place where the company was able to raise $40 million and the round was led by Promus Ventures. As the company was expanding, it was getting pressure to mass-produce satellites but space became the main constraint. So, the company opened a new office in Glasglow which also marked its entry into the European market. Spire Global became a publicly-traded company in 2021 and had a market value of $1.6 million. But recently the company is going through a rough patch due to rising losses and the close of the SPAC merger.

Peter Platzer – CEO of Spire Global

Peter Platzer is the co-founder and CEO of Spire Global. His vision behind founding Spire Global was to provide satellite-powered data from any point on Earth. In 2013, Platzer was named White House Champion of Change for his idea to launch small form-factor satellites into space. Peter also worked at CERN and Max Planck Institute. His research was based on high frequency and high accuracy data in space and he also interned at NASA Ames’ Space Portal. He is currently a part of Harvard Business School as a career coach.

Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Veritone – A Company That Is Investing In Unleashing The Undiscovered Potential Of AI.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

Humans are making progress with technology every day, hence we are constantly discovering and learning something. The real power of an invention remains unknown until and unless the entire world is trying to fathom it. Artificial Intelligence is a very prominent example to understand the various layers of how an invention slowly unfolds its power. Veritone, founded in 2014, by Chad and Ryan Steelberg has embraced the entrepreneurial journey to do the same. They have founded Veritone to explore and unleash different powers of AI that the world hasn’t witnessed before. The main goal of the company is to offer AI-powered solutions to solve some of the biggest complicated challenges of the modern world.

About Veritone

Veritone is an artificial intelligence company based in Costa Mesa, California. The company was founded in 2014 and within the next few years went international. Veritone has offices in California, New York City, Denver, London, and other places. It is a publicly-traded company (traded on NASDAQ Global Market) and offers services to more than 1,500 customers across the globe. It has a very diverse customer base that ranges from media conglomerates to various police agencies. Veritone has two wholly owned subsidiaries, Veritone One and Veritone Digital that offer content management solutions and licensing services. Veritone’s most famous product is its proprietary software system, aiWARE which is used by worldwide customers.

Company’s Story

Both brothers, Chad and Ryan Steelberg, grew a deep interest in technology from a very young age. Their dream was to welcome the world into a new age of technology. Eventually, when they started their career life, their experience grew and wanted to build an AI-powered empire for the world. So, with the past experience and a zeal to create a new empire, the two brothers founded Veritone in 2014. Three years after founding the company, Veritone decided to go public but unfortunately suffered a loss of $59.6 million in that year. It also acquired a company called Atigeo Corporation during the same time. In 2018, the company acquired four new businesses, including, Machine Box, Wazee Digital, Performance Bridge, and S Media Limited. At the end of 2018, the company recorded a loss of $61.1 million.

In 2019, the company heavily invested in ads for clients like Uber, LinkedIn, HelloFresh, Audible, etc. Since the company was facing losses, in 2020 it received a loan of $6.5 million from Sunwest Bank. The company later announced that it would return the full loan because it has the financial flexibility to maintain its capital position. In 2022, Veritone became the winner of the 14th Annual Media Excellence Awards for Best Artificial Intelligence.

About The Founders

The two brothers, Chad and Ryan Steelberg founded Veritone in 2014 with the sole purpose to extend the application of AI by manipulating its unexplored power. But, at the same time, they made sure that the company also follows all the ethical rules to do the same.

Apart from being one of the co-founders of the company, Chad Steelberg is the current CEO and Chairman of the Board as well. Before co-founding Veritone, he served as a board member of Brand Affinity Technologies for almost five years. He also worked at Google for a year as the general manager of the Audio Division. He is also the co-founder of an advertising company that was acquired by Google in 2006. The first company founded by Chad Steelberg was Adforce, an independent ad service company that was eventually acquired by CMGi.

Ryan Steelberg is the co-founder of Veritone who also co-founded dMarc Broadcasting, an advertising company with his brother. He is currently the President of Veritone One and also became the President of the parent company in 2017. For seven years, he worked with Brand Affinity Technologies as its CEO and President. At Google, he worked as the Head of the Radio Division.

Annasha

Geoff Rhoads got the idea for founding Digimarc while he was working to remove noise from digital photos.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

In 1995, Geoff Rhoads founded Digimarc, a publicly-traded company that offers digital identifiers including QR codes and digital watermarks. The company is based in Oregon, United States. The company mainly offers these products and services to prevent counterfeiting, increase accuracy, product authenticity, and many more. The solutions of Digimarc are used in multiple industries from health and beauty to automotive and manufacturing sectors. With the digitized products of Digimarc, companies can witness better brand integrity and full supply chain traceability. Currently, the company has around 300 employees who are working under the leadership of Riley McCormack.

Founding Story

Entrepreneur and astronomer, Geoff Rhoads, worked at Tektronix before founding Digimarc. While he working with the electronics manufacturer, he began his research on space imagery and content protection. This thorough research work took place in the early 1990s and in 1994 Rhoads founded a company called Signet. This venture was exclusively focusing on the concept of digital watermarking. He got the idea for founding Signet while he was working to remove noise from digital photos of deep space imaging. In 1995, Digimarc was founded as a part of Signet and was spun off in the same year. The company was founded in Portland, Oregon with only three employees. In 1996, after the initial funding round, Digimarc released its first product for image copyright communication. The product was basically a digital watermarking plug-in bundled with software like Adobe Photoshop.

In the first round of funding, Digimarc raised $4.5 million which was the highest compared to other new startups in Oregon. Adobe acquired 10% of the company and became one of the major investors. In 1997, Bruce Davis became the new CEO of the company and in the same year, the company was awarded the first digital watermarking patent. Today, the company has nearly 1,100 patents in its portfolio. After a couple of years, the company aimed for developing a global system for deterring the creation and usage of unauthorized banknotes (digital copies). So, it signed a multi-year deal with several banks for preventing digital counterfeiting. In the same year, the company filed its IPO where it raised more than $90 million. By the end of the decade, the company launched MediaBridge for shifting readers from printed media to web content.

Expansion

In 2000, Wired launched its first digitally-enhanced magazine and featured Digimarc technology. The next year, Digimarc acquired a business division of Polaroid Corporation and the assets of the company were used to establish Digimarc ID Systems. This ID system was launched to enhance driver’s licenses in 37 states. But, in 2008 the company sold this business unit for $315 million and shifted its focus toward content protection and digital media engagement. In 2002, Bruce Davis became the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and in 2003 Michigan issued its first driving license using Digimarc technology. In 2004, Digimarc was featured in Forbes magazine for being one of the top 25 fastest-growing companies.

For advanced image identification and a rigorous search system, Digimarc launched Digimarc ImageBridge in 2005. In 2007, the company partnered with Nielsen such that the latter can use the watermarking technology for video content. Digimarc was also recognized by IEEE for having one of the most valuable patent portfolios among software companies. In 2012, the company acquired Attributor Corporation (specializing in content protection services). In 2014, Digimarc ranked four in the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon, and in the next year received Emmy Award for Technology & Engineering.

After its huge contribution to the entertainment industry, the company’s next focus was the retail sector. In 2016, the company partnered with leading retail scanner vendors like NCR, Zebra, and Honeywell. New Seasons Market, an Oregon-based grocery supply chain also adopted the Digimarc barcode in the same year. In 2017, the company opened new offices in Germany and Japan. In April 2021, Bruce Davis retired as the CEO of the company and he was replaced by Riley McCormack. To expand its product base, Digimarc completed the acquisition of EVRYTHNG, an IoT software company in 2022.

About Riley McCormack

Riley joined Digimarc recently and before that he was the CEO and PM of Tracer Capital Management. He is also the founder of this New York-based hedge fund. Riley also worked as a research analyst at Morgan Stanley and also founded TCM Strategic, a fund that has recently made an investment in Digimarc.

Annasha

Genius Sports – A Young Startup That Has Become The Current Talk Of The Sports Data Industry.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

Being the messiah in the world of sports data and technology, Genius Sports is known for organizing, optimizing, and creating unique sports experiences. The company was founded in 2016 as a result of a merger between two companies. Currently, the headquarters of the company is based in London, UK. Genius Sports is mainly responsible for offering software to various sports leagues and federations. Various services like data management, video streaming, and integrated services are also provided by the company. Various sports allow the company (giving rights) to commercialize their data and video content with authorities like media companies and casinos.

About Genius Sports

Being founded only five years ago, Genius Sports is currently one of the fastest-growing sports technology companies across the globe. The company now employs more than 1,800 people around the world with major offices in New York City, Tallinn, Los Angeles, Medellin, and many more. The company is catering toward building a more sustainable sports ecosystem with a fair share of engagement, commercial benefits, and competitiveness. To date, the company has covered around 240,000 sports events and established more than 600 long-term partnerships. In April 2021, the company got listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company, dMY Technology Group.

A Merger Between Two Companies

In 2016, Mark Locke decided to merge his company, Betgenius and SportingPulse International. The newly formed company was called Genius Sports which became a perfect blend of sports technology, data supplier, and the betting industry. One year after the merger, Sports Genius started acquiring several other companies starting with Data Project, a volleyball technology provider. In the same year, the PGA Tour launched a new integrity program for mainly preventing betting-related corruption. The company was selected to support this integrity program through close monitoring and educational services.

In 2018, a new statistics initiative was announced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all its members alongside Genius Sports. In the same year, Apax Partners acquired Genius Sports but even after the acquisition, Locke continued as the CEO of the company. Later in 2018, Football Data Co. came into an agreement along with Genius Sports and Perform Group to protect the football leagues in England and Scotland against match-fixing. This was for the first time that two technology companies combined for the mentioned reason.

Expansion

As the company was eventually landing deals with various types of sports leagues, in 2019 it struck a deal with NASCAR stock-car racing association. Genius Sports chose to strike a deal with this organization to become the exclusive provider of NASCAR data to licensed sportsbooks across the world. In the same year, it made a deal with Football DataCo for being the official supplier of live data. The company also partnered with the German Football Association and Superliga Argentina to help prevent match-fixing and unhealthy sports betting. In October 2020, the company acquired Oppia Performance, a video production, and streaming company. In 2021, Company partnered with the National Football League, WynnBET, Canadian Football League, and many other famous and influential organizations in the sports industry.

Mark Locke – CEO of Genius Sports

Mark Locke is not only the CEO of Genius Sports but also its co-founder. Locke has more than fifteen years of experience in both the sports technology and media industry. His entrepreneurial journey started when he launched Betgenius in 2001 and currently it is a part of the Genius Sports Group. Locke, in 2015, recognized the huge potential hidden between the intersection of sports and the betting industry. This is the reason why he decided to merge Betgenius and SportingPulse International. Locke also has a history in telecommunications and ventures for property management.

Annasha

Cellebrite – An Israeli-based Global Leader In The Digital Intelligence Sector.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

Founded in 1999, Cellebrite is a leading digital intelligence company based in Petah Tikva, Israel. The founders of the company are Avi Yablonka, Yaron Baratz, and Yuval Aflalo. The mission of Cellebrite is to protect common people by accelerating the justice rate and ensuring privacy. Cellebrite partners with both private and public organizations to monitor and manage their digital intelligence. This adversely helps in the investigation, protecting millions of life and sensitive data. Cellebrite is an award-winning Digital Intelligence Investigative Platform. The company maintains proper transparency while protecting and safeguarding public and private assets. Currently, the technology of Cellebrite is used in more than 140 countries for public safety.

Founding History

The three founders established Cellebrite in 1999 in Israel. Other executive members of the company like Ron Serber and Yossi Carmil joined the company eventually in 2001 and 2004 respectively. In 2005, both Serber and Carmil were made Co-CEOs but Carmil is holding the post individually after Serber resigned from the company in 2020. Since 1999, Cellebrite has come a long way in the next two decades as it has opened several offices around the globe. Currently, Cellebrite has fourteen offices spread across the world including major business spots in Washington, Munich, the US, Singapore, etc. In Nagoya, Japan, Cellebrite is a fully owned subsidiary of Sun Corporation. The company mainly came onto the radar of the police force and other law enforcement agencies when it unlocked the murderer’s phone in the San Bernardino massacre.

When the company was selling commercial products for the first time, it mainly manufactured both hardware and software. These products offered compressive phone-to-phone data transfer devices and that various contact transfer and synchronization tools for mobile phones. These products were developed to be used by various support staff, especially wireless carrier sales in retail stores. The company eventually decided to expand to other markets. Thus, in 2007, Cellebrite founded an independent business unit targeted at the mobile forensics industry. In the same year, Cellebrite came under the acquisition of FutureDial Incorporated and Sun Corporation (one of its major shareholders). In 2017, the company rebranded its Mobile Lifecycle division as Mobilogy. Mobilogy was mainly known for producing hardware and software products for various purposes like data backup, phone-to-phone data transfer, electronic software distribution, data analysis tools, etc.

Recent Days

As the company was expanding both geographically and in terms of product diversity, many firms started investing in the company. In 2019, Israeli Growth Partners invested around $110 million in Cellebrite. With the funds raised from funding, Company made a few acquisitions in the last two years. In 2020, the company acquired BlackBag Technologies, a computer forensics company. After this acquisition, Cellebrite expanded its digital intelligence solutions to include data collection tools from computers.

In 2021, the company announced a business agreement and its plan to merge with TWC Tech Holdings II Corporation. Since the acquisition has been completed, Company has become a publicly-traded company. In 2022, Cellebrite joined AWS Partner Network as an Advanced Technology Partner and recently it was named a Leader in the Inaugural IDC MarketScape on Digital Forensics.

Yossi Carmil – CEO of Cellebrite

Yossi Carmil has more than 25 years of experience especially when it comes to various leadership positions, business development, global sales, and many more. He has been working with Cellebrite for more than 16 years and as the CEO of the company he monitors everything from vision to execution. He worked at several other companies before joining Cellebrite including Siemens Israel Ltd, Elgad Com Group, and Bosch, Germany.

Annasha

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