The global recession has not harmed Israeli Wi-Fi start-up AeroScout (formerly BlueSoft). According to AeroScout's co-founder and CEO Yuval Bar-Gil, 2009 will be a record year for the company.
Bar-Gil said, "The fourth quarter has been one of our best ever, and compared with the fourth quarter of 2007 we have grown 100%. Over the past five years the company has grown by about 4,000% and we estimate that 2009 will be a record year." Bar-Gil did not cite any specific figures.
Bar-Gil added. "Our only concern is the rate of the dollar, which negatively influences our capabilities and requires us to become engaged in things that a start-up should not have to be involved in such as hedging, for example. I'm not complacent. We have to fight every day but we are entitled to succeed. Even so there are deals that a year ago we would have completed but today have not worked out."
AeroScout develops Unified Asset Visibility (UAV) solutions using Wi-Fi-based Active RFID, sensors, RTLS and other technologies to provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring. The company's corporate headquarters are in Redwood City, California with products developed in Rehovot. AeroScout has established partnerships with Cisco Systems, Philips Medical Systems, AT&T and other leading technology and solution providers.
Since its establishment in 1999, AeroScout has raised $44 million in investment from U.S. venture capital funds Intel Capital and Menlo Ventures; Israeli venture capital funds Pitango Venture Capital, Star Ventures, and Greylock Israel; Cisco Systems, ComVerse Technology Inc., Qualcomm founder Andrew Viterbi, Western Technology Investments (WTI) and Technoplus. The company has 90 employees and 100 companies in the medical, manufacturing and logistics sectors as well as government bodies use its systems.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 28, 2008
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