Veniam expects to have 200,000 connected vehicles by the end of the year
Dinheiro Vivo
· 23 Feb 2021
"We expect to have 200,000 connected vehicles to our technology in the next 12 months, mainly from commercial fleets'", said the executive president of Veniam, João Barros, who foresees a "strong growth" of the Portuguese startup, established almost nine years ago. "This is the objective and we are already in the right partnerships," he said, without giving further details.
Veniam is a Portuguese technology-based startup that resulted from the 'spin-off' of the University of Porto, the University of Aveiro and the Telecommunications Institute.
The technology currently has about 40 people, engineers, and a sales team in Germany, Japan and the United States, said the executive president of Veniam, who will speak about his smart grid platform at FISTA - Technology and architecture forum ISCTE, where more than 60 companies will present their products in various areas, which takes place online between 24 and 25 February.
"We developed a unique software platform that allows cars, trucks, buses and all kinds of moving objects to connect with each other and the Internet", explained João Barros, who stressed that the startup was known for creating the largest network in a network of vehicles in the world in Porto, at the time with STCP buses, which even today provide free wifi to hundreds of thousands of passengers".
Subsequently, Veniam made "similar networks in Singapore and New York", also having autonomous vehicles using its technology.
Veniam "sells its software platform for all these types of devices, including cameras that are placed in vehicles and other objects that are collecting data and that need to connect to the Internet", continued the professor.
The company does not reveal the value of the invoicing, but in three financing rounds - 2014, 2016 and 2018 - in Silicon Valley and New York it raised "approximately 40 million euros", he said.
About his customers, João Barros pointed out that there are "several fleets in the world" that already use the Portuguese technology software.
"We still have confidential projects with several car manufacturers to include our software directly in vehicles from the factory", as well as "a number of companies that put cameras" developed by the startup in the vehicles to increase road safety.
These cameras, he explained, "can detect whether the driver is falling asleep" or whether he is using his cell phone while driving and warning. With this technology, companies "are able to reduce accidents and insurance costs for cars and fleets", using artificial intelligence to analyze the videos.
With Veniam software it is possible for all devices "to become Internet access points for other devices themselves", that is, "we now have a mesh network where all" these objects "share Internet connections", said the executive president.
