Annasha, Author at Your Tech Story

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

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

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

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

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

Bechtle – A German-based IT Company That Took A Spark In The Campus Of Heilbronn University.

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Bechtle AG is a multinational company with its headquarters based in Neckarsulm, Germany. The company mainly offers IT services in direct link with the sale of hardware and software IT products. Bechtle has a diversified client base, hence it is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of various IT infrastructures including the public sector. Founded in 1983, currently it has a massive business spread globally with 80 system houses. It has established e-commerce companies in fourteen European countries and nearly 70 different locations in german-speaking regions. The main business factor that makes a company adaptable for every type/size of business is its blend of IT product sales with integrations services.

Founding Bechtle

The idea of founding Bechtle took a spark in the campus of Heilbronn University with Klaus von Jan, Ralf Klenk and Gerhard Schick. These members of the university founded Bechtle GmbH EDV-Technik on 21st July 1983 as a microbusiness. They started the company from inside the campus and initially focused on programming technical calculation software for commercial purposes. In the first fiscal year, the company earned 66,000 German marks. After a couple of years, Bechtle became a certified IBM distributor and the team shifted to a bigger office. With six people running the company, the annual revenue climbed up to 2,245,000 German marks by the end of 1985.

Expansion

By the end of the 1980s, Bechtle already established itself as a market leader. IBM recognized the company as Quality Dealer of the Year three times in a row and it also expanded the team and became a company with a total of 37 employees. By the end of 1989, the revenue of the company became 13,015,000 German marks. With the advent of a new decade, the company focused on campaigning and branding as it was crossing regional borders. In 1992, Bechtle became one of Southern Germany’s largest system integrators. The number of employees became 85. One of the turning points in the history of the company’s growth was in 1993 as two of its main competitors were bankrupt. Bechtle seized this opportunity to expand in more locations and also hired executive members from prominent IT companies.

Two years down the line, Bechtle focused on taking the company online and launched its website. In the same year, Amazon and eBay were also founded in the US. After launching the company in the e-commerce market, it soon became a pioneer and also started making acquisitions. It expanded to a few locations like northern Baden-Württemberg and Leipzig and the outcome was a three-fold increase in the annual revenue. From 1995 to 1996, the company doubled its employees. In the same year, Bechtle was recognized as one of the top five IT system houses in Germany. Also, in the same year, Bechtle first opened an international office in Switzerland.

Present Days

In 2000, the company went for an IPO and the capital from the shares was used to expand in France and Belgium. In 2004, the company reached a new milestone of surpassing the 1 billion euros revenue mark. The company moved to its new headquarters in Neckarsulm. In 2004, it made four new acquisitions to add more locations to the company’s list. In 2008, Bechtle celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the business expanded to Ireland and Austria. The international expansion continued as it opened the business in Portugal, Poland, Hungary, and several other countries. In 2014, Bechtle became the top IT system house in Germany. Bechtle currently has more than 12,000 employees and it is impressively growing in terms of revenue even in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis.

Thomas Olemotz – CEO of Bechtle

Thomas Olemotz is currently the CEO of Bechtle and has worked with 11 different companies. Some of the companies where Olemotz worked before joining Bechtle are Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mittelstandsberatung, Delton AG, and Microlog Logistics AG. He joined the company in 2007 and became the CEO of the company in 2010. He also played his role as Spokesman of the Executive Board and CFO at Bechtle.

Annasha

Expensify – A Journey From Assisting Homeless Individuals To Building A Successful Startup.

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Annasha

Expensify is one of the world’s most innovative companies (according to Fast Company, 2015) that was established in 2008. David Barrett is the founder and current CEO of the company. The headquarters of the company is based in California, United States. Expensify has approximately 144 members, according to December 2021. The major and widely used product launched by the company is an expense reporting application that is available both for Android and Apple devices. Expensify’s expense management software not only helps to track everyday expenses but also helps in creating receipts for online purchases which can be further used for reimbursement.

Founding History

The story of David Barrett and his successful entrepreneurial life starts back in 2008. It all started with a bleak hope and a doubtful mind to open the startup and after a decade it has become a successful US-based public company. Getting deeper into the backstory of Expensify, Barrett used to live in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco in 2008. Living in this neighborhood, Barrett came across his unhoused neighbors almost every day on the street. This got him thinking about several ways to help these people without giving direct cash. While thinking about an alternate solution, he came up with an idea of a debit card linked to the personal account of these people which would ensure that they could buy food and all be able to access various kinds of public services.

Pitching this idea was accompanied by several hiccups as most of the banks thought the idea was very strange and risky. David got turned down for funding wherever he pitched the idea initially. But Barrett was determined to found this company and hence the next time he pitched a low-risk idea to the bank for getting funding. This led to the development of Expensify, an expense report platform for both business and personal use.

Journey to Becoming Expensify

After having a clear idea about how he wanted to pitch a solution, Barrett finally came up with his card technology concept in 2008. He presented his idea at TechCrunch50 and named his solution as Expensify with a tagline, “The Corporate Card for the Masses!”. Initially, Barrett didn’t have any planning to open a startup but he realized that people actually loved the concept of expense reporting.

Eventually, David started working to establish Expensify properly and expand the team. In the next couple of years, David and his company launched the first receipt-scanning technology in the industry. This product was called SmartScan which allowed the user to take a photo of the receipt for automatic transcription. The name of Expensify’s platform spread like a wildfire in the initial years. Expense management is a very crucial task, especially for working individuals, so the new users of the platform increased at an exponential rate. As word-of-mouth spread, Expensify was able to raise much more funding (from $1 million in 2009 to $17 million in 2015). It also received several awards and recognitions like Tabby Award (2015), Forbes Cloud 100 (2016), Top 10 Free Mobiles Sales App by Inc Magazine (2014), and many more.

About the Founder

David Barrett is a famous American entrepreneur who is known for being the CEO and founder of Expensify. Barrett is an alumni of the University of Michigan and he studied software engineering. David was into programming from the early age of six. After he joined Michigan, he started working there in a virtual reality laboratory. After he graduated, he worked in the video game industry where he helped in developing 3D graphics. Before starting his company, Barrett worked at Red Swoosh, a peer-to-peer file-sharing company.

Annasha

Annasha

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