Veniam

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

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

Veniam Platform

Awards

• 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

• 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

• 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

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. 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. "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".
29. "Jornal Online - Universidade de Aveiro".