Your Tech Story

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor's in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank "paper has more patience than person

Kofax

Kofax – Intelligent Automation Software Provider Founded By Fellow Workers.

Kofax corporation is an intelligent automation software provider founded 37 years ago in 1985. It is headquartered in Irvin, California. It provides services like allowing businesses to automate and improve the workflow by elucidating the data handling with its software. It has about 2,000 employees working to improve its services and has been an independent portfolio corporation acquired by a private investment firm Thomas Bravo. It has achieved a revenue of up to 500 million US dollars (2020).

History

Kofax was founded as Kofax Image Products by Engineers David Silver and Dean Hough, fellow workers at a document processing firm, FileNet. David Silver took the leadership of the firm and became its President and Chief Executive officer. The firm’s first-ever products were introduced in 1989, primarily focused on manufacturing personal computer circuit boards to modify them into image processing machines. In the 1990s, the firm focused on the development of its primary image processing technology and went on Nasdaq in October 1997. IN 1999, the company announced a $75 million deal and was acquired by the UK- originated holding corporation DICOM group. The firm’s main objective was to pair the Kofax Image Products, their digital Capture Technology, and DICOM’s distribution services in Europe. David Silver Stepped down from his position in 2000, succeeded by Arnold Buren, who was the former deputy chief Executive Officer of DICOM. In 2000, there was again a position swap in which Rick Murphy was named Chief Executive Officer of Kofax. Arnold Von Buren was promoted to the CEO of the DICOM group. In December 2005, Buren’s position was assigned to Rob Klatell. After two years, he was replaced by Reynolds Bish, former CEO of Captiva Software 2007 who was one of the key people. The merged corporations, Kofax Image Products, Inc. and DICOM groups were renamed Kofax Inc. in 2008.

Kofax
Image source: wikimedia.org

Acquisitions And Mergers

  • Kofax Corporation acquired Mohomine firm, which was an automated text classification and extraction developer, in April 2003.
  • Atalasoft Corporation, an image software company with a document imaging toolkit known as dotImage as its major product, in 2011.
  • In September 2014, the firm acquired an e-signature and signature verification software firm known as Softpro as a separate unit in Stuttgart, Germany.
  • A customer communications management firm Aia Holding was situated in the Netherlands in March 2015.
  • On March 24, Kofax Inc. and Lexmark International agreed to a merger resulting in Lexmark acquiring a large number of shares i.e. US$1.
  • In November 2018, it acquired a Document Imaging department of Nuance Communications.
  • In June 2021, Kofax acquired a document capture, content management and workflow automation software provider firm, PSIGEN Software, Inc. In August, It announced the acquisition of Printix.net, a cloud-based print management system provider.

Revenue

In the year 2015, the firm generated a revenue of 297 million USD, which reached 298 million USD in 2021.

Renowned Customers

The firm provided its services to several renowned companies like Xerox, Samsung, Visa Inc, HP inc., Canon Inc., and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.   

Founders – David Silver and Dean Hough

David silver is a great entrepreneur, engineer, and former CEO. He holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of California Irvin, California. During the initial days, he became a great inspiration for his employees. Dean Hough was born in July 1958 in Irvin, California, and attended San Diego State University from 1977-1980. He has been Vice president of Kofax Inc.

CEO – Reynolds C. Bish

Reynolds Bish is an entrepreneur, engineer, and a leading supplier of intelligent automation services and led a global business and employed over 2,000 people all over the world. During his leadership company’s revenue exceeded $600 million. He encouraged different mergers to achieve strength and enhancement.

kakao

Kakao – Renowned For Its Free Messaging App Kakao Talk.

Kakao corporation is a South Korean internet company providing services like messaging, advertising, music, and e-commerce. The firm was established 12 years ago in 2010 by Brian Kim headquartered in Jeju City, South Korea. Presently, It is managed by Co-CEOs Manson Yeo and Sean Joh. The Firm achieved a 4.16 trillion South Korean Won (2020). Currently, it is competing for the Number 1 Position with Naver in the Japanese web novel and comic market.

Founding Of Company

Kakao corporation is the company after Kakao Talk serving as its primary platform and flagship application founded by Kim Bum-Soo in 2006. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Three of App Annie’s Global top 10 android apps were bound up with Kakao Talk in august 2013, which were Everybody’s Marble, Ani pang, and Cookie Run. Some games played on its platforms, such as Dragon Flight and Ani Pang, were named National Games. Some key people were Brian Kim, Stephen Kim, and Namkoong When. It’s a versatile corporation providing services in different industries such as entertainment, fashion, finance, transportation, community services, and investment.

Mergers

The Corporation decided to merge with Daum Corporation, one of Korea’s top Internet portals, using a stock swap in May 2014 to compete with South Korea’s biggest portal, Navier, and was renamed Daum Kakao, which was changed back in 2015. The firm’s board of directors replaced CEO Kim-Beom-Soo with Rim Ji-Hoon.

kakao
Image source: mk.co.kr

New Business Model

Kakao corporation introduced its KakaoTaxi service on March 10, 2015, which allows users to call a taxi using the Kakao Taxi app. Different taxi companies supported the Kakao taxi service, and approximately six lakh taxi- users booked their rides with this application just eight months after the launch.

Revenue

Having 93 % of the South Korean population on Kakao Talk, it made a revenue of approximately 200 USD with gaming, mobile commerce, digital content, and marketing channels, becoming the world’s third top publisher at google play in 2013.

Achievements

Kakao Corporation was acknowledged as an elite developer on Google’s Android Market, and its flagship application KakaoTalk was selected as the number one Free messaging App by Cnet. It became the World’s Top publisher on Google Play in December 2013. Presently, it is the No. 1 publisher for Google Play and iOS in South Korea, and KakaoTalk is the Number 1 application for Google Play and iOS platforms in South Korea. In 2014, It was chosen for the Most Innovative Mobile App Award at Global Mobile Awards.

Subsidiaries

Its renowned subsidiaries are:

  • Kakao games
  • Kakao entertainment
  • Kakao mobility
  • Kakao friends
  • Lycos Inc.

Founder – Kim Beom-Soo

Kim-Boem-Soo, also called Brian Kim, born on 8 March 1996, is a Korean Billionaire Entrepreneur, chairman, and founder of Kakao corporation. He grew up in Seoul, and his grandmother did his upbringing, and he holds a BSc and MSc degree in engineering from Seoul National University. He joined Samsung as a developer. Kim started Hangame as an internet cafe business in 1998 which became Korea’s first online gaming platform. He also worked in NHN corporation as a representative until 2007. He was worth 11.2 billion USD by Forbes in 2021.

Chief Executive Officer – Namkoong Whon

He worked on finding new growth engines for the corporation and worked as Chief executive officer at Kakao corporation’s new organization. He holds a degree from Sogang University. He was also an early founding member who led the firm through a difficult time and contributed much to making it a success.

Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors – A Breakthrough In Luxury Electric Vehicle Industry.

Lucid Motors limited is an American Electric Automobile manufacturer firm formerly known as Atieva established in 2007. It was founded by Bernard Tse and Sam Weng. Its headquarters are in Newark, California. They manufacture high-performance vehicles while focussing on innovation, sustainability, and luxury. It is known as the new generation of electric vehicles. Over 3000 employees have exceptional skills and experience in Automobile Industry. The company achieved a revenue of 27 million US dollars (2021). The firm mainly manufactures software for the supervision of individual battery cells, mechanical packaging, and battery pack controls for plug-in vehicles, aircraft, and automobiles.

History

The firm was founded as Atieva in 2007 for the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries and powertrains for other automobile manufacturers. In 2013, the firm decided to develop a car and by 2014 it secured a nine-digit round of funding to complete its mission of developing the car. They developed a custom powertrain test car with 900 HP. Its exterior was rather common to stay unrecognized. This vehicle could travel 60 mph in just three seconds (Approx.) having exceptional driving range.

In 2016, the firm decided to establish a manufacturing plant of 700 million US dollars in Casa Grande, Arizona. The state and company officials planned the plant’s construction, which was predicted to hire over 2,000 employees by the middle of the 2020s. The initial aim was to build 20,000 cars and extend up to 1,30,000 cars annually. The manufacturing plant was designed to uphold a maximum capacity of 3,80,000 cars. The decision was made to start the plant in 2017 and vehicle production by 2019. It launched its vehicles in September 2021.

The firm’s commercial production started in North America with its retail strategy. The plant’s construction was initiated in 2019 and ended in December 2020. The second phase is currently in the process of maximizing the capacity from 34,000 to 90,000 cars per year. The finalized construction with four phases will have a capacity of about 4,00,000 cars annually.

Lucid Motors
Image source: dribbble.com

Investors

Some key investors who funded their first-ever car were Tsing Capital, Venrock, Mitsui and JAFCO. Since then, they are investing in lucid motors to fuel their innovative ideas.

Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arab

On September 17, 2018, the firm announced that it will be receiving a public investment fund with a value of over one billion US dollars. It is a Saudi Arab Sovereign fund. The funding was finalized in April 2019. It was received to fund the final phase (engineering and testing) construction of the Casa Grande manufacturing plant.

Merger

The firm decided to merge with Churchill Capital Corporation in a deal of 11.75 billion US dollars

Renowned Products

Lucid Air

A sample of the Lucid Air, an entirely electric car, was launched in 2016. Its exceptional features include a projected range of 653 km and 480 horsepower with a starting price of 77,400 USD.

Project Gravity

Lucid Motors produced a concept of an electric SUV in September 2020, which is known as project gravity. Some features of project gravity were sleek headlamps, a short hood, a large windscreen with stylish and large windows, and quarter glass panels.

CEO – Peter Rawlinson

The chief executive officer of lucid motors was a VP of engineering at Tesla before joining Lucid motors. They joined the firm as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in 2013. He is a great British engineer and an entrepreneur. He was born in South Wales and attended Imperial College London.

Founders – Bernard Tse, Sam Weng

Bernard Tse is a great entrepreneur, the former VP at Tesla Motors, and a Board member. He was also the former CEO of Lucid Motors. He has over 20 years of experience in the electric vehicles industry. Sam Weng co-founded Lucid Motors with Bernard. He was also the retired executive of tesla motors and led the firm to its success.

Creative Technology

Creative Technology – Started From Preparing Add-On Memory Board For The Apple II PC.

Creative Technology Limited is a Singaporean Multinational consumer Electronics firm. It was founded in 1981 by two childhood friends having its headquarters in Jurong, Singapore. Also, It has overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley. Its branch in the United States is known as Creative labs. Sim Woo Hong is the Chief Executive Officer of Creative Labs. Its Chief Financial Officer is Ng Kai Wa, who also played a Crucial role in its foundation.

Creative Labs provide services such as design, manufacture, and distribution of digitalized video and sound boards, computers, and related multimedia and personal digital entertainment products. It collaborates with mainboard manufacturer companies and renowned laptop brands to embed its Sound Blaster technology on its products.

History

Creative Technology Limited was founded 41 years ago, on 1st July 1981, by two childhood and Ngee Ann polytechnic schoolmates. It was first established in Jurong, Singapore. Then it expanded to various countries overseas. Initially, It was just a computer repair center located in Chinatown. The firm prepared an add-on memory board for the Apple II PC. After that, it spent nearly 500,000 USD on creating the Cubic CT, an IBM-compatible computer advanced for the Chinese language containing innovative features like enhanced colour graphics and a built-in audio board capable of generating speech and melodies. Since there was no demand for multilingual PCs and the availability of only a few multimedia software applications, it became a massive failure.

Sim decided to establish a creative technology subsidiary, Creative Labs in Silicon Valley united states. He convinced Many software Developers to offer their assistance in supporting their sound card, renamed game Blaster, marketed by RadioShack’s Tandy division. It became a huge success and resulted in the development of a Standalone Sound Blaster Sound Card.

In 1992, former Ashton-Tate CEO Ed Esber joined creative labs as Chief Executive Officer for the proper management and company’s rapid growth. He brought together a team of US executives consisting of talented personalities such as Rich Buchanan (graphics), Rich Sorkin (sound products, communication, OEM, and business development), and Gail Pomerantz (marketing). This team played a crucial role in lifting the shares market. Specifically, Rich Sorkin drastically enhanced the firm’s brand position via crisp licensing. However, the Esber team and the founders had some strategy and positioning-related opinion differences. So, they gave up their positions in 1995, except for Sorkin. He was promoted to general manager of audio communication products and afterward vice-president of business development and corporate investments. In 1996, He also left creative labs and went to work in Elon Musk’s first startup and internet explorer zip2.

Creative Technology
Image source: external-preview.redd.it

Revenue

Due to the Sound Blaster’s massive success, there was an immense revenue increase. It increased from 5.4 million USD in 1989 to 650 million USD in 1994. By 1996, the firm’s revenue reached 1.6 billion USD. Currently, its annual revenue is 84 million USD (2021).

Renowned Products

It became famous for its sound blaster in the 1980s and creative X-fi Sonic carrier in 2016.

Court Cases

Creative technology sued Aureal claiming patent violation over a MIDI technology controlled by E-mu Systems on 5 march 1998 with Aureal filing a counterclaim for defamation and indulging in unfair competition to damage them. After the launch of sound Blaster, they filed another suit against Aureal which went bankrupt due to expenses and investor pressure in 1999. Creative technology acquired it in 2000.

Subsidiaries

It has many Divisions and brands overseas which are the following:

  • Cambridge SoundWorks
  • Creative MuVo
  • Creative NOMAD
  • Creative ZEN
  • E-mu Systems/Ensoniq
  • Sound Blaster
  • SoundFont
  • ZiiLABS (previously 3Dlabs)

Founder – Sim Wong Hoo (Weng fu Shen)

Sim Woo Hong is a Singaporean Inventor, a billionaire, and a great entrepreneur. He was born in 1955 and studied at Bukit Panjang Government High School. He graduated from Ngee Ann polytechnic university in Electrical and Electronic engineering. He has won many awards for his inventions which include, Singapore’s Public star medal and Asia’s Businessman of the year in 2001. He became the youngest billionaire at the age of 45. He also authored a book named “chaotic Thoughts from The Old Millennium”.

KPIT Technologies

KPIT Technologies, Founded by Two Accountants working In The Same Accountancy Firm.

KPIT Technologies Limited is a leading Indian Multinational firm formerly known as KPIT Cummins Infosystem Limited. It was established in 1990, with its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It is a software development company that provides software to automotive corporations and is an integration partner leading mobility to an advanced, clean, and safe future. Its business contains six domains i.e. Autonomous Driving, Connected Vehicles, Electric and Conventional Powertrain, AUTOSAR, Mechatronics, and Vehicle Diagnostics, working with leaders in the automotive and mobility industry.

It has its development centers in the USA, Germany, Korea, Japan, Thailand, India, and China. Over 7,000 (2019) employees are working in the firm specializing in Artificial Intelligence, embedded software, and digital solutions. The firm works on speeding up the clients’ performance of the next-gen technologies for the future mobility blueprint.

History

KPIT Technologies was founded in 1990 by Ravi Pandit and Kishore Patil, two accountants working in the same accountancy firm. In the year 2002, A firm known as Cummins Infotech merged its Information technology Department with KPIT, and from then on it was known as KPIT Cummins Infotech limited. After eleven years of this arrangement, Cummins technologies decided to reduce the shareholding in KPIT, focusing on its primary business in Generator and engine manufacturing. Therefore, in 2003, It changed its name back to “KPIT technologies”. It has created many software solutions one of the great ones is Revolo, which became the first ARAI- certified JNNURM II flexible with On- bus intelligent transport system. KPIT launched its new firm logo on June 6, 2019.

KPIT Technologies
Image source: www.punekarnews.in

Renowned Customers

Its renowned clients are BMW, Cummins, Paccar, Lafarge, GM, DICV, and others.

Revenue

The firm made its stock launch in 2019, which was 50 times oversubscribed. It has achieved a revenue of Rs. 2432.38 crores i.e. 320 million USD (2022), and has a net value/income of Rs. 274.24 crores i.e. 36 million USD.

Split-Up And Merger

In January 2018, an It company known as Birlasoft and KPIT decided to merge and promptly split up into two new firms. This proposal was approved by the competition commission of India. Afterward, two new firms, an IT firm, and an automotive firm were formed. The IT company was called Birlasoft and the automotive corporation was called KPIT Technologies. Birlasoft received 22 shares of the combined company for every nine shares they have in Birlasoft. KPIT received one share of every share they have in KPIT. According to the founders, this deal was made to segregate Information technology and automotive tech business to focus on each.

Founder – Ravi Pandit

Ravi Pandit is an Indian Entrepreneur, Co-founder, and chairman of KPIT Technologies Limited, born in Pune, Maharashtra. He holds a master’s degree in Management from MIT Sloan School of Management. He holds membership in two renowned institutes of India of chartered accountancy one is the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and the other is the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Also, He has been the president of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture and Industries between 2004-2006.

CEO – Kishore Patil

Kishore Patil is a great Entrepreneur, co-founder, managing director, and Chief Executive officer of KPIT. He led his team through its crucial time. His achievements are endless such as he was presented with the CA business leader Award in 2014 and the prestigious golden lotus national award.

Gemini

Gemini – Cryptocurrency Exchange Founded By Twin Brothers.

In this digital era, when we are trying to bring cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, etc. There are many companies that provide these services, ensuring its safety, Gemini is one of them.

Gemini Trust firm is a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, and custodian which provides services like Buying, selling, and storing digital assets for their customers. Gemini was founded in 2014 by Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss and is governed by The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS). Its headquarters were established in New York City, New York, Unites States.

History

Founders announced the establishment of Gemini in 2013. But it began to work in October 2015. After that, the company started to add different digital services like FIX, API support, etc. In 2016, it permitted users to withdraw Ethereum classics from the exchange, pursuing a hard fork in Ethereum’s code. It allowed its users to withdraw Bitcoin Cash from the exchange given that they had a balance available on the exchange before the bitcoin hard fork in August 2017. Chicago Board Exchange started using Gemini for its Bitcoin Future contracts. By April 2018, It initiated services for Block trading. It enables Gemini users to buy and sell digital assets in large quantities, outside Gemini’s order books. It started to make use of NASDAQ’s smart technologies to monitor trade, any fraudulent activity, and price manipulation on its exchange.

Gemini
Image source: www.protocol.com

Services

Gemini enables the users to purchase and store bitcoin through a complex system of private keys and a password-protected environment while keeping the amount small to avoid the risk of loss. They can trade crypto and fiat currency in an open market and transfer USD to and from their bank accounts.

Partnerships

It did a number of partnerships which were:

In 2017, CBOE partnered with Gemini to use its dollar-dominated auction price.

In March 2018, It partnered with Caspian, a full-stack cryptocurrency trading and risk management platform for Institutional and complex investors.

In May 2020, It announced a partnership with Samsung In which Samsung smartphone users could link their Blockchain wallets to their Gemini accounts to transfer crypto and view balance.

Revenue

Gemini achieved total funding of 423.9 Million USD. Trust’s current valuation is 7.1 billion USD, raising an estimated annual revenue of 307.2 million USD.

Competitors

It operates in many different countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. So, it has many competitors. Some of its main competitors are Coinbase, Binance, Bitstamp, and Kraken.

Achievements

  • World’s first licensed ether exchange in 2016
  • World’s first licensed Zcash exchange in 2018.
  • Became the first one to launch Bitcoin’s futures contracts in 2017.

Court Cases

The commodity futures trading commission filed a suit against Gemini for misrepresentation of the company’s exchange and futures contracts during 3017 meetings. The case was filed on 2 June 2022. The suit demanded to block it from all trading commodities and from getting further investment with additional fines.

The Winklevoss Brothers – Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

Cameron Howard Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss are twin brothers born on august 22, 1981. They are the American cryptocurrency and bitcoin investors, entrepreneurs, and founders of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini Crypto exchange. Besides this, They are also Olympic rowers who completed their men’s pair rowing event at The 2008 summer Olympics. Winklevoss and his brothers also co-founded HarvardConnection with Divya Narendra. Tyler Winklevoss is the chief Executive officer of Gemini Trust firm. They also founded a website called Guest with Rachelle Hruska. They filed a suit against Facebook for stealing their connectU idea to create Facebook. Each twin holds a cryptocurrency of 1.4 billion USD estimated to Forbes.