VIA Attends Hanscom Air Force Base Invite-Only Event

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Our CEO Colin Gounden and SVP, Strategic Initiatives, Joe Babiec represented VIA at Hanscom Air Force Base (Bedford, Mass.) in today’s invite-only event. Hanscom AFB is a long-time innovation hub for the USAF and the headquarters for Program Executive Office (PEO) Digital and PEO C3, Intelligence and Networks. We were excited for the opportunity to share more about JARVIS, our proven base operations and infrastructure application, and its underlying data integration, data security, and data analysis platform with United States Department of Defense leadership!

Leaders at VIA Present at Deeptech Showcase Smart Cities

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VIA leaders Colin Gounden and Joe Babiec presented at Deep-Tech Showcase’s virtual Smart Cities event on June 17 at 2:15pm. The team covered our mission and technologies, as well as how we are leading the clean energy revolution. View the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7DuekF3V3U

VIA CEO Colin Gounden Presents at EPRI AI and Electric Power Summit

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Data is the fuel for AI engines, yet securely sharing data remains a major roadblock for the electric power industry. Our CEO Colin Gounden joined an executive panel at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)‘s AI and Electric Power Summit to discuss how we overcome it with data curation and governance. Visit here for recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZIasTCQgyI&list=PLphKrnecF69U4xTsLqzs2F0GJWFJxXEur&index=6! ⚡ 

VIA SVP, Strategic Initiatives, Joe Babiec Attends USAF Flightline Operations Showcase in Las Vegas

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VIA’s Joe Babiec, SVP of Strategic Initiatives attended AFWERX‘s Revolutionizing USAF Flightline Operations showcase in Las Vegas. At the showcase, Joe represented VIA at our booth “Airfield Maintenance and Repair Challenge.”

VIA Participates in Energy Data Hackdays in Brugg, Switzerland

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For the final stop on his Swiss adventure, our CEO, Colin Gounden, attended Hightech Zentrum Aargau AG‘s Energy Data Hackdays in Brugg, Switzerland. At the event, the VIA Insights Market™ was officially debuted and tested by several early users.

End of Year Reflection
People

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As this year comes to a close, we are taking our readers on a journey through 2021 in this three-part reflection series written by a variety of VIA’s leaders. The series covers the incredible milestones VIA has achieved in laying the foundation for big things ahead in 2022 as we Scale Up!

2021 was a big year for us at VIA, so big, we needed three blogs to cover all of our milestones! This first part highlights our team, the VIAneers.

All About That Base

To keep up with our customer growth, we had our biggest year ever for new hires: 16! Our new VIAneers tell us that the onboarding experience when they join VIA is incredibly supportive, inclusive, and engaging – even when remote! In no small part, this is due to the continuous improvements we have been making over the past five years. 

From our founding, our core values have been reinforced day-to-day through a cohesive program of supporting processes. These ranged from six monthly offsites, formal mentorship programs, awards and incentives, learning and development, and structured feedback. With a hugely diverse team (e.g., we have 17 nationalities across 39 people around the world) we believe that systematic reinforcement of values has created the base necessary for a scalable organization. 

Our VP, People and Operations, Emma Fechney, deserves a huge shout out for instantiating our commitment to values into a successful system over the past several years. Emma took our theory of the case about the importance of mission, values, and diversity and built a program that we scaled and has an impact every day. In 2021, we branded this program the “VIAneers’ Experience Program.”

Great Support for Great People

A big milestone for VIA in 2021 was raising our Series A. We were genuinely surprised, in the best possible way, to hear from several investors during the diligence process that our “people processes” are on par with IPO-ing companies. 

Unsurprisingly, the first investment we made was in people, in particular, the kind who take care of others. Emma’s People and Operations team grew to include Felice Sicoli, our talent acquisition extraordinaire. Felice has helped shape our candidate experience and ultimately led us to our biggest recruitment year. Angelica Novoa, also joined this year as People and Operations Partner. Angelica joined us through a recommendation of a current VIAneer, Jonathan Chirwa. Referrals of friends are the best possible validation of our company culture and experience – and Angelica has proven this with her thoughtful contributions from day one! Both Felice and Angelica have been instrumental in enhancing and systematizing our onboarding experience.

Welcoming Felice and Angelica has yielded 16 new people to accept offers with us in 2021 while maintaining consistency in quality. Fewer than 1% of applicants ever get an offer at VIA. As one of our technical VIAneers, Antoine Dozois, says when he assesses candidates, “It’s not enough for candidates to be ‘good.’ They have to be ‘VIA Good.’”

A highlight of 2021, was our first hybrid (virtual and in person) company event, called Power Up Week. While we have a long history of assembling our company together weekly through “All Hands” video conferences and bi-annual offsites, this year we extended the invitation to our advisors, Lt. Gen. Spigelmire, Maj. Gen. Nesbitt, and Brig. Gen. Blackstock, as well as prospective advisors. We believe they are an extension of our team and need to be aligned on values and mission as much as our full time VIAneers.

Want a sneak peak at Power Up week? Watch our Day 1 Kick-off video where we cover VIA’s mission.

Hey, 2022!

2022 will be a great year for VIAneers. To keep up with exponential customer growth, we already have three new hires starting in January on our technical team and have aggressive hiring plans across our offices globally.

We feel confident that we have the foundation in place for our next few hundred hires. Some of our processes date back to previous successful companies and are proven in diverse and challenging environments. 

Always staying agile, we look forward to the ways our new growth and team members will continue to spark our creative expansion of our VIAneers program. It is the part of the job our People and Operations team loves the most – and we see it pay off in the many successful commercial and technology milestones we achieved this year. We look forward to sharing more about them next! #lovein=loveout

VIA Named One of the Most Innovative Analytics Companies in Massachusetts by Data Magazine

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Data Magazine spotlights VIA in a list of the Most Innovative Analytics Startups & Companies in Massachusetts. VIA was selected from a range of companies, including well-known brands like HubSpot and Rapid7, based on performance in innovation, growth, management, and impact on society. At VIA, we are committed to upholding this title both in Massachusetts and worldwide as we continue to work with power providers, clean energy companies, and governments to overcome barriers to data and AI integration.

To read the full announcement from Data Magazine, you can visit their website here.

Switzerland’s Top Innovation Booster Grants VIA New Energy Project

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VIA maintains Swiss market momentum with funding to impact country’s decarbonization goals

SOMERVILLE, Mass., November 18, 2021 — Continuing its track record for innovation in Switzerland, VIA, the leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) for data privacy, integration, and analysis, announced today that it has been awarded funding from the nation’s top innovation booster, Energy Lab. Developed in collaboration with research partner Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts (HSLU), the project, “Insights Marketplace – Powering Up Your Data for Decarbonisation,” was selected through a competitive judging process and is a testament to the company’s deepening impact on the Swiss energy market.

“Making a lasting impact on Switzerland’s clean energy transition goes beyond a single solution or technology. It requires the ongoing commitment of an entire community. We’re thrilled to be part of this innovation ecosystem, and our COO and Switzerland board member, Kate Ravanis, and I are looking forward to driving further collaboration with VIA Insights Market,” said VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden, who will be also presenting the project at Energy Lab’s Un(Conference) on November 25, 2021, in Switzerland. The event will be another opportunity for an exchange of ideas and community building to commence.

The project highlights VIA Insights Market™, which debuted globally earlier this fall in Switzerland at Energy Data Hackdays in Brugg, Switzerland. VIA Insights Market enables power providers to test and acquire AI and other analytical services faster and more securely than any other alternative. By applying Insights Market to the problem, the need for repeated training of artificial intelligence (AI) models is reduced. At the same time, privacy and security are enhanced as the solution brings code to the data, removing the need for storage of data in multiple locations.

Sem Mattli, managing director of Switzerland Innovation Park Central, which facilitates the Energy Lab, added: “Collaboration is key to accelerating innovation. Through VIA Insights Market, researchers and companies alike can train and deploy AI models on data previously unavailable due to geographic or regulatory constraints while power companies maintain full confidentiality of their data. The application has the power to save Swiss utilities hundreds of hours in data integration costs, while building a bridge that enables distributed energy resources to be on the grid.”

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting https://www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social media, including LinkedIn and @solvewithvia on Twitter and Instagram.

About VIA
90% of the world’s data is trapped. VIA makes it accessible. Trusted by leading government agencies and clean energy companies around the globe, VIA’s secure, digital collaboration platform overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. By bringing AI to data 100 times faster than alternatives and with the highest level of cybersecurity, VIA’s platform is the driving force to make communities of all kinds cleaner, safer, and more equitable. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com

 

Europe’s Largest Utility Spotlights Partnership with VIA to Lead Energy Transition

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Innovators Featured in Article on Bridging Power Company Data and AI

VIA is proud to be featured in an article by our partner and Europe’s largest energy utility, Enel. The article, which is published as a success story on Enel’s website, examines data’s critical role in powering the energy transition and the challenges many power companies face in tapping into this precious resource. Highlighting the partnership between VIA and Enel X, Enel’s demand response business line, Enel explores the innovations, including our TAC™ platform and SWEET™ technology, that are helping it bridge data with AI to overcome these barriers. With SWEET, Enel X is able to automate data cleaning and wrangle thousands of data files from Enel X customers in just minutes — which otherwise may have taken hours for a data scientist to manipulate manually.

We look forward to continued collaboration with Enel X as we pave the way to a clean energy future, together. As Kate Ravanis, COO of VIA, concludes in the piece: “Anyone can get lucky and make something new once. For us, we strive to find a faster, smarter, cleaner way of doing everything, all the time.”

To read the full article by Enel X, visit their website here.

U.S. Air Force Taps VIA for Data-Driven Infrastructure Decision-Making at Tyndall Air Force Base

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SOMERVILLE, Mass., November 4, 2021  — VIA, the leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) for data privacy, integration, and analysis, announced today that the United States Air Force (U.S. Air Force) awarded the company a new contract with Tyndall Air Force Base (Tyndall AFB). The contract was a result of VIA participating in the Revolutionizing Flightline Operations Challenge run by the U.S. Air Force’s flagship innovation unit, AFWERX. VIA was selected out of more than 140 of the world’s leading technology providers and innovators competing in the same challenge category.

Expanding VIA’s partnership with the U.S. Air Force, the contract highlights the increasing demand for VIA’s AI for infrastructure application, JARVIS™. In the past year, JARVIS has supported over $200M in infrastructure maintenance and repair decisions at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Tyndall AFB, located near Panama City, Florida, will immediately begin using VIA’s fast, secure, and intuitive JARVIS application to improve airfield maintenance and repair.  

Tyndall AFB is the lead facility for the Air Force’s Installation of the Future program. After Hurricane Michael destroyed much of the air base in 2018, Congress directed that Tyndall AFB should be rebuilt to serve as a template for refurbishing and building U.S. air bases worldwide. Under the terms of its contract with VIA, Tyndall AFB, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineering Center (AFCEC), will also integrate JARVIS into the overall Installation of the Future system architecture so that the application will become available across the U.S. Air Force.

Major General Kimberly Crider, a recently retired two-star general from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) who served as Chief Data Officer for the U.S. Air Force until 2020, added: “Data is essential for DOD leadership to make mission-critical decisions and ensure that installation infrastructure remains safe, mission-ready, and comfortable for all personnel. As the base of the future, Tyndall and its evaluation is a logical step along the path to adopting JARVIS enterprise-wide. A DOD-wide adoption will ensure the Air Force can effectively and efficiently sustain essential infrastructure at all of its domestic and overseas air bases for decades to come.”

VIA’s Joe Babiec presented JARVIS to the U.S. Air Force at the invitation-only AFWERX Showcase in Nevada in September 2021.

Designed by airmen for airmen, the solution solves a critical pain point for the U.S. Air Force not resolved by other analytics tools. VIA’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Joe Babiec, who represented VIA in the challenge, explained: “JARVIS routinely saves Air Force civil engineers time and money. Before, they would spend days following complicated manual procedures to prepare a report for their leadership. JARVIS automates all of the Excel and data science tasks so that engineers can generate reports in minutes and with the same ease as using an application on a smartphone. Now they can focus on maintenance and repair work as they were trained, while leadership has the insights to inform strategic decisions about whether to expand, maintain, or replace billions of dollars of critical air base infrastructure.”

VIA’s technology will help Tyndall AFB commanders make faster, better, data-driven decisions about how to keep air base infrastructure safe, mission-ready, and comfortable while saving taxpayer dollars. VIA’s TAC™ platform brings speed, security, and simplicity to make JARVIS 100 times faster than any other infrastructure decision-making support system and holds the DOD’s top cybersecurity accreditation. 

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting https://www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social media, including LinkedIn and @solvewithvia on Twitter and Instagram.

About VIA

90% of the world’s data is trapped. VIA makes it accessible. Trusted by leading government agencies and clean energy companies around the globe, VIA’s secure, digital collaboration platform overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. By bringing AI to data 100 times faster than alternatives and with the highest level of cybersecurity, VIA’s platform is the driving force to make communities of all kinds cleaner, safer, and more equitable. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

Switzerland Recognizes VIA’s Extraordinary Growth Trajectory with National Award

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Clean Energy Innovator Honored Alongside Moderna and Benchling

Pictured above (left to right): Kate Ravanis, Co-Founder and COO, VIA; Markus Börlin, Ambassador, Consul General of Switzerland; Colin Gounden, Co-Founder and CEO, VIA.


Together with innovators Moderna and Benchling, VIA received Switzerland Global Enterprise’s 2021 Tell Award for its contributions to the Swiss economy and community. Since its inception, more than 50 of America’s most innovative and fastest growth companies – including Biogen, Google, and Microsoft –  have been recognized with this prestigious national award. VIA executives Kate Ravanis and Colin Gounden celebrated the distinction at a private ceremony in Boston with Swiss dignitaries.

“Switzerland has a worldwide reputation for its commitment to clean energy adoption and data privacy, two areas closely aligned with VIA’s own mission,” VIA COO and Switzerland board member Kate Ravanis said. “This award is proof of our impact on the market as we provide the technology to overcome barriers to data and protect privacy. We’re proud to be recognized alongside such a strong group of innovators and look forward to continued collaboration with the Swiss government, academia, and power industry.”

As the world’s only blockchain that is cybersecurity-approved by the U.S. Department of Defense, VIA is committed to bringing the highest levels of data security and accelerating Switzerland’s clean energy goals. The announcement comes only a week after the launch of VIA Insights Market™, which made its public debut at Energy Data Hackdays in Brugg, Switzerland. VIA Insights Market enables power providers to accelerate their transition to clean energy technologies through faster testing and acquisition of AI. VIA’s R&D partner Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts served as a beta user of the platform. To support its growth across Europe, VIA recently opened an office at the Switzerland Innovation Park Central in Zug.

For more information about the Tell Awards, read the press release from Swiss Global Enterprise.

Pictured above (left to right): Sophie Cerny, Trade Commissioner for Innovation; Lukas Sieber, Executive Director USA, Greater Zurich Area; Michelle Abboud, Vice President – North America, Lucerne Business; Colin Gounden, Co-Founder and CEO, VIA; Markus Börlin, Ambassador, Consul General of Switzerland; Kate Ravanis, Co-Founder and COO, VIA; Daniel Bangser, Trade Commissioner for Investment; Benjamin Bollmann, CEO, Swissnex Boston.

 

It’s official! VIA team members presented with the Tell Award at VIA’s office in Somerville, Mass.

Pictured above (left to right): Joe Babiec, SVP of Strategic Initiatives, VIA; Kate Ravanis, Co-Founder and COO, VIA; Colin Gounden, Co-Founder and CEO, VIA; Daniel Bangser, Trade Commissioner for Investment; Adam Eisenman, VP, Public Sector, VIA.

 

About VIA

VIA is powering the clean energy revolution. Working with the world’s leading utilities, clean energy companies, and government agencies, VIA’s software overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. As a result, VIA’s software accelerates the AI required for the clean energy transition. VIA also provides the bridge that enables EVs, battery storage, demand response, and distributed energy resources to be on the grid. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

VIA Moves Somerville Headquarters to Accommodate Growing Team

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Pictured above [left to right]: Top – Adam Eisenman, Kate Ravanis, Kevin McSweeney, Steve Patton, Becky McClements, Joe Babiec, and Annvie Nguyen; Bottom – Jackie Finn, Colin Gounden, Kristen Merrill, and Taylor Curran.

 

It’s official: To accommodate rapid team and customer growth, VIA, the leading provider of AI for data privacy, data integration, and data analysis, has moved to a new location in its home base of Somerville, Mass. The VIA team in Somerville, whose size has more than doubled in less than a year, is now headquartered at 49R Day Street. 

The new office will support the expanding commercial team, with new job openings in the energy and government sectors to complement the move. 

“VIA is thrilled to support our growing customer base across sectors — and, from the city where it all started,” said Colin Gounden, President and CEO. 

For a behind-the-scenes look into the new space, follow VIA on LinkedIn or @solvewithvia on Twitter and Instagram.

Pictured above: VIA’s new office space

Pictured below: VIA CEO Colin Gounden welcomes team to Somerville headquarters.

About VIA

VIA is powering the clean energy revolution. Working with the world’s leading power providers, clean energy companies, and government agencies, VIA’s software overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. As a result, VIA’s software accelerates the AI required for the clean energy transition. VIA also provides the bridge that enables EVs, battery storage, demand response, and distributed energy resources to be on the grid. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

Jackie Finn Interviewed for Profile of a Founder Blog

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VIA’s VP of Marketing, Jackie Finn, was featured in The Tech Tribune blog series “Profile of a Founder.” The Tech Tribune recently named VIA “2021 Best Tech Startups in Somerville” for the second consecutive year. Read their Q&A interview to hear Jackie’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and discover the turning point that transformed VIA from just a startup data science company to the AI and blockchain leader we are today.

The Startup Pill Names VIA to Best Analytics Companies List

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Thank you to The Startup Pill for including VIA on their list of this year’s Best Predictive Analytics Startups in the U.S. We were proud to be featured alongside cutting edge AI companies across the globe. The Startup Pill selected companies based on innovation (ideas, route to market, product), growth and strategy, management, and societal impact. At VIA, we believe that using AI, we can have a smarter and cleaner future.

Trio of U.S. Army Generals Support VIA’s Critical Infrastructure AI Application

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Three retired U.S. generals join VIA as advisors to support mission of protecting critical infrastructure

SOMERVILLE, Mass., August 23, 2021 — VIA, the leading provider of AI for data privacy, data integration, and data analysis, today announced three advisors to support its mission to improve and protect critical infrastructure, such as military bases and airports. The new Department of Defense (DOD) advisors include Lieutenant General Michael Spigelmire, Major General William T. Nesbitt, and Brigadier General Thomas H. Blackstock, Jr.

“Technology is only as valuable as the problems it solves,” said Colin Gounden, CEO of VIA. “Each advisor has a track record of bringing innovation to solve complex and high-stakes problems at a regional and national scale. We’re honored that they selected VIA as the company able to address the growing critical infrastructure needs at the Department of Defense.”

Lt. Gen. Spigelmire, a retired three-star United States Army General who led the VII Corps of over 80,000 in Stuttgart, Germany, brings a background in base operations efficiency. He was the first to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) into base operations for the U.S. Army. He personally briefed over 4,000 personnel to begin the program. Under his leadership, Fort Benning was selected as the Best Installation in the DOD for several years.

Maj. Gen. Nesbitt, a retired two-star general, most recently served as adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, where he reported to the governor and was tasked with command and control for the Georgia DOD (Georgia Army National Guard, Georgia Air National Guard, and Georgia State Defense Force). Over his 40-year career, Maj. Gen. Nesbitt was responsible for the safety and security of critical infrastructure including a role as a director of the Georgia Office of Homeland Security in 2006 and as commander of the Georgia Army National Guard. 

Brig. Gen. Blackstock, a retired one-star general and civil engineer, joins with deep expertise in infrastructure. Brig. Gen. Blackstock spent over 25 years directing installation management activities and ultimately led the largest new facility planning and design program in the history of the Georgia National Guard to upgrade critical infrastructure. Most recently, he served as director, joint staff in Marietta, Georgia.

Lt. Gen. Michael Spigelmire, Maj. Gen. William T. Nesbitt, and Brig. Gen. Thomas H. Blackstock, Jr.

“With thousands of installations and over a million soldiers, the U.S. Army is an enormous and complex organization,” Lt. Gen. Spigelmire shared. “Technologies like VIA’s are a requirement for our forces to operate with greater efficiency and improve the DOD’s mission readiness.”

Brig. Gen Blackstock added, “The infrastructure upgrades and programs I led throughout my career all required data-driven decisions. The AI in VIA’s JARVIS application allows engineers and commanders to navigate massive amounts of data across data sources that were previously siloed. Knowing the capabilities of VIA’s platform, I am committed to the benefits of saving taxpayer dollars and saving lives that the DOD will receive from improved operations.”

Maj. Gen. Nesbitt stated, “I was impressed by the value that USCENTCOM and Al Udeid Air Base were realizing from VIA’s work. Seeing the response from Army Facilities Management Officers and their senior staff to VIA’s technology convinced me of the need for JARVIS to help manage the vast DOD infrastructure.”

The addition of these three advisors complements VIA’s recent DOD-wide Platform One accreditation for JARVIS, its base operations and infrastructure application, upgrading its cybersecurity to top secret levels. With the highest levels of cybersecurity underpinning its platform, VIA delivers smarter infrastructure management through secure data analysis, predictive maintenance, and maintenance optimization for government and commercial customers.

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting https://www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social @solvewithvia

About VIA

VIA is powering the clean energy revolution. Working with the world’s leading power providers, clean energy companies, and government agencies, VIA’s software overcomes the most common barriers to AI: lack of data, data quality issues, and data privacy concerns. As a result, VIA’s software accelerates the AI required for the clean energy transition. VIA also provides the bridge that enables EVs, battery storage, demand response, and distributed energy resources to be on the grid. VIA is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, and European offices in Denmark and Switzerland. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.