Veniam

American technology company

Veniam

Company type| Private
Industry| Connected transportation
Founded| 2012; 13 years ago (2012)
Founder| João Barros, Robin Chase, Roy Russell and Susana Sargento
Headquarters|

Mountain View, California

United States

Key people

João Barros, Founder & CEO
Rui Costa, CTO
Jane Hoffer, CBO

Services| Vehicle based Mesh Networks & Connected Vehicles

Veniam was a technology startup focused on building large WiFi mesh networks using moving vehicles like city buses or taxis. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California and was founded in 2012.[1] The Company received 4.9 million dollars in 2014 in a funding round from True Ventures,[2] USV and Cane Investments. Veniam's technology is being used in Porto's city buses with about 230,000 users with onboard units (OBUs) installed on over 600 buses, taxis and garbage trucks.[3] They aim to equip many moving things with wireless hotspots creating a mesh that could be used to build sensors to turn the city smarter.Each vehicle is equipped with a NetRider, a multi network unit with Wi-Fi (802.11p), DSRC, GPS and 4G/LTE connectivity.[4] Veniam was acquired by Nexar in 2022.[5]

## Company

[edit]

Veniam was founded by João Barros, its CEO, Roy Russell, former Zipcar[6] CTO,[7] Susana Sargento, a professor at the University of Aveiro, and Robin Chase, former CEO of Zipcar and Buzzcar.

## Products

[edit]

Veniam Platform

## Awards

[edit]

* 2018 named Best Connected Product/Service at TU Automotive
* 2017 ScaleUp Portugal Award Tech Winner
* 2017 Telecom Council Spiffy Winner - San Andreas Award for the Most Disruptive Technology [8]
* 2017 CNBC 50 Disruptors - list of companies whose "innovations are changing the world.”[9]
* Winner of TU Automotive Best Auto Mobility Product/Service 2016[10]
* 2016 Best Auto Mobility Product/Service Winner by TU Automotive[11]
* 2016 CNBC 50 Disruptors - list of companies whose "innovations are revolutionizing the business landscape.”[12]
* Winner of the “Best New Venture” at the WBA 2015 Wi-Fi Industry Awards[13]
* Winner of WBA Scale Up Award 2015 for the outstanding innovation and solutions brought to market [14]
* Winner of the 2015 Red Herring Top 100 Award[15]
* Winner of the NOS Innovation Award 2015 [16]
* Winner of the Portuguese Venture Competition “Building Global Innovators” (ISCTE–IUL; MIT Portugal)[17]
* Most Likely to Succeed Idea within the Cable Industry at CableLabs’ Innovation Showcase[18]
* Named 2015 Gartner “Cool Vendor” in Smart Cities[19]
* Named FierceWireless “Fierce 15” Top Wireless Company List of 2015[20]

## Investors

[edit]

* Cane Investments[21]
* Cisco Investments[22]
* Liberty Global[23]
* Orange Digital Ventures[22]
* True Ventures[24]
* USV[25]
* Verizon Ventures[22]
* Yamaha Motor Ventures And Laboratory Silicon Valley[22]

## Institutional Partners

[edit]

* Carnegie Mellon Portugal[26]
* European Union[27]
* Instituto de Telecomunicações[28]
* ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon
* MIT Portugal[17]
* O NOVO NORTE
* Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional
* University of Aveiro[29]
* University of Porto[29]
* University Technology Entreprise Network Portugal

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Startup Veniam Builds "Internet of Moving Things"". Startup50. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
2. ^ "Veniam Picks Up $4.9M To Turn Buses Into Wi-Fi Hotspots". Tech Crunch. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
3. ^ "Hundreds of Portuguese Buses and Taxis Are Also Wi-Fi Routers". Technology Review. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
4. ^ "A network for the Internet of (moving) Things". GCN. 2015-09-29.
5. ^ "Nexar acquires Veniam". 3 August 2022.
6. ^ "Robin Chase on Zipcar and her next big idea". TED Talks. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
7. ^ "Veniam Wants to Build a Smart City One WiFi Bus at a Time". Xconomy. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
8. ^ "2018 SPIFFY Nominees announced - CALENDAR | Telecom Council". Archived from the original on 2018-11-15. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
9. ^ staff, CNBC.com (16 May 2017). "2017 Disruptor 50: No. 34 Veniam". CNBC.
10. ^ "Veniam's Vehicle Networking Solutions Win CNBC Disruptor 50 and Best Auto Mobility Product/Service Award". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
11. ^ "2016 Tu-Automotive Awards | News, Awards, Categories". www.digitaltrends.com. 8 June 2016. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
12. ^ staff, CNBC.com (7 June 2016). "2016 Disruptor 50: No. 28 Veniam". CNBC.
13. ^ "Veniam Wins Wi-Fi Industry's Best New Venture". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
14. ^ "Veniam on Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30.[user-generated source]
15. ^ "Veniam Wins 2015 Red Herring Top 100 Award". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
16. ^ "1ª edição do Prémio Inovação NOS distingue quatro empresas".
17. ^ a b Gallagher, Don. "MIT Portugal - MIT Portugal".
18. ^ "Veniam Voted Winner at CableLabs(R) Innovation Showcase". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
19. ^ "Veniam Named 2015 Gartner "Cool Vendor" in Smart Cities - Marketwired ".
20. ^ "Veniam Named to FierceWireless "Fierce 15" Top Wireless Company List of 2015". Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
21. ^ "About Us - Our Operations - Other Operations - Liberty Global Ventures".
22. ^ a b c d "Verizon Ventures leads $22 mln Series B funding in Veniam". 12 February 2016.
23. ^ "Liberty Global - largest international cable company".
24. ^ "Welcoming Veniam". 2 December 2014.
25. ^ "Introducing Veniam - Union Square Ventures". 2 December 2014.
26. ^ "Veniam'Works Makes Buses Wi-Fi Hotspots".
27. ^ "European Union Women Innovators prize 2016 - Innovation Union - European Commission".
28. ^ Engenharia, Agri-Ciência, Consultores de. "Start-ups and Spin-offs".`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
29. ^ a b "Jornal Online - Universidade de Aveiro".