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

/ /by

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

/ /by

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

/ /by

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

/ /by

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

/ /by

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

/ /by

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.

Meet the Team: Becky McClements, Market Strategy Specialist

/ /by

Through a Q&A-style interview, you will hear from VIA team members about things like a typical day at the office and favorite foods.

What does a typical day at VIA look like for you?

Part of what I love about working at VIA is that there is no such thing as a “typical day”. I feel like that is incredibly cliche to say, but it is the truth! I get to touch so many different parts of our business and am constantly being exposed to new ideas and topics. Each day and each project is slightly different. 

Broadly, a typical day at VIA for me involves coordinating upcoming projects and proposals that need input for that day, and then executing that input, whether pulling together research or market sizing numbers, or writing sales and program proposal content. 

How has the transition back to the office been for you

I really thrive working in a group setting, so I am super excited to be working in person alongside teammates again. Each day I look forward to problem solving with VIA team members, who are just as engaged with and committed to VIA’s mission of making clean energy a “no trade-off” solution as I am.

What’s something you have worked on at VIA that you are most proud of?

In my short time at VIA, I’ve had the opportunity to support several proposals, including some that were fairly involved. In my first few months, we applied for some funding in the EU. I was very proud of the work and learning I did on that project. It was a pretty steep learning curve, but I ultimately felt like I gained a much more developed understanding of VIA’s products and put together a compelling proposal.

What’s your favorite VIA memory?

My welcome lunch when I first joined! I didn’t expect to meet the majority of the company on the first day and was also very nervous about how onboarding remotely would feel. I was impressed that so many people took time out of their days to introduce themselves, especially over video chat. I quickly realized the friendly and warm atmosphere of that call is pretty standard at VIA.

If you were given an extra hour in your day, what would you spend it doing?

Sitting outside, reading a book, and drinking some coffee.

What is your go-to food?

I really love a well-made sandwich with really fresh ingredients.

What’s something everyone may not, but should, know about working at VIA?

The VIA team’s GIF game is so strong! It adds so much brevity and humor to our Slack channels. 

What’s one fun fact that you have learned about the clean energy industry that you didn’t know before joining VIA?

I recently learned that small scale, personal wind turbines designed to power individual homes are starting to gain traction in Denmark. 

If you could pick one word to describe the VIA team, what would it be?

Diligent

VIA Receives U.S. Department of Defense Platform One Accreditation for Blockchain Core of Base Operations and Infrastructure Application

/ /by

Company’s secure AI and data privacy protection platform upgrades to military-grade cybersecurity standards across DOD and commercial sectors

 

SOMERVILLE, Mass., July 13, 2021 — VIA, the leading provider of secure AI and data privacy software, today announced that the core software containers that underpin its base operations and infrastructure application, JARVIS, have received Department of Defense (DOD) Platform One cybersecurity accreditation. The accreditation also upgrades VIA’s cybersecurity capabilities for its commercial and energy customers.

For nearly a year, multiple users at one of the largest U.S. expeditionary bases under U.S. Central Command have been using JARVIS, an application built on top of VIA’s blockchain core. A first user group leverages work order and predictive maintenance insights from JARVIS to protect more than 700 buildings (nearly eight million square feet) and 15,000 engineering systems such as HVAC, utilities, and plumbing. A second user group applies JARVIS’ AI and satellite imagery features to ensure mission readiness on roads and runways on the base. Since its installation, JARVIS has supported over $200 million in base operations decisions such as building construction and demolition. 

The blockchain core of VIA’s software allows sensitive data to be analyzed securely on premise, or on Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS) through Kubernetes clusters. All VIA containers use only services authorized on the AWS Secret and C2S Regions. The combination of full AWS C2S Region compatibility and Platform One accreditation enables VIA’s software to work with and analyze data up to the Top Secret U.S. security classification level (one above Impact Level 6 or IL-6). 

“VIA’s software platform has always enabled secure analysis of our customers’ data. Since the evolution of cybersecurity threats is accelerating, we believe that making a substantial investment to achieve and maintain Platform One accreditation is the best way to ensure VIA upholds the highest level of cybersecurity protection for our DOD and commercial customers,” said Joe Babiec, VIA’s senior vice president of strategic initiatives. “The accreditation gives DOD customers confidence that JARVIS can scale to improve mission readiness at bases and airfields globally. We are committed to meeting Platform One DevSecOps standards for VIA’s new and remaining containers.”

VIA’s commercial customers will also benefit from the cybersecurity upgrade. Smart city and infrastructure managers for roads, airports, and commercial buildings are increasingly the target of cybersecurity attacks. With Platform One accreditation, VIA uniquely enables infrastructure analysis, predictive maintenance, and maintenance optimization while meeting the latest in DOD-level cybersecurity standards.

“In mission critical environments where every second counts, we have to ensure that software and updates can deploy fast — in hours, not years — while maintaining the highest level of cybersecurity,” said Nicolas Chaillan, chief software officer of the U.S. Air Force and co-lead of the DOD’s Enterprise DevSecOps Initiative. “Companies like VIA are key to delivering on this promise through continuous cybersecurity testing and fast deployment at any classification level across the DOD. We’re excited to welcome VIA onto Platform One, especially as AI and data privacy technologies remain among the DOD’s highest priority technologies.”

Follow the latest from VIA by visiting 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.

Enechange Insight Program Selects VIA For Inaugural Cohort

/ /by

VIA is proud to be one of 21 companies selected as part of the inaugural ENECHANGE Insight Ventures (EIV) cohort. Each company selected for the cohort brings unique tools to help Japan achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. According to EIV, companies were selected based on their “technology, size, market traction, timeframe for a prospective collaboration, and subscribers’ interest.” 

Learn more about Enechange and our fellow cohort members on their website.

VIA Strengthens Presence in Western Europe with Swiss Office and Local Advisor

/ /by

The AI platform innovator selected intelligent building center of excellence Zug and will expand research work with HSLU

ZUG, Switzerland, June 9, 2021 — VIA, a global trailblazer in AI and privacy-preserving software for the energy industry, today announced it has opened an office in Switzerland, further cementing its role in the acceleration of Switzerland’s clean energy transition goals. The new office, strategically located in the canton of Zug, will support the company’s growth across the European Union, including France, Germany, and Austria. VIA chose the Switzerland Innovation Park Central as it is the preeminent intelligent building innovation hub.

“Switzerland is a global leader in clean energy adoption. The country also carries some of the world’s strictest privacy regulations. Its goal to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is ambitious, and we are excited to be part of making it achievable,” said Kate Ravanis, Chief Operating Officer and Swiss Board Member at VIA. “Our team will play an important role in equipping the Swiss energy sector with the technology to overcome barriers to data and protect privacy, and are excited to bring our patented blockchain application, Trusted Analytics Chain™ to the Crypto Valley.”

To enhance VIA’s operating capabilities, the company named local industry veteran, Andrew Bright, as advisor to the office. In this role, Mr. Bright, who joined VIA’s Advisory Board last year, will draw on his deep knowledge of the region and its unique energy and privacy challenges. He brings 25 years of experience in the sustainable energy and transportation sectors, including 12 years as a senior executive at ABB Power Grids.

VIA will expand its Swiss presence and partnership with Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), focused primarily in the areas of data science, AI, and clean energy technology, and their interaction with the region’s strict data privacy laws. In 2020, VIA and HSLU won funding from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) for its KnowlEDGE project to develop edge computing capabilities on advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), enabling increased data privacy.

Liv Minder, Director Investment Promotion, Switzerland Global Enterprise added, “The clean energy industry has carved out a place in Switzerland, which in turn is providing strong impetus for growth. Given its mission to drive the adoption of clean energy, and leadership in the energy data privacy sector, VIA is warmly welcomed to our business ecosystem.”

VIA, which recently announced a $10M Series A investment round, anticipates key hires over the next several months as well as major customer and partner announcements. Follow the latest from VIA by visiting www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social @solvewithvia.

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.

BostInno Recognizes VIA as Leader in Boston Area

/ /by

VIA is proud to be locally recognized as a leader in the Boston area by BostInno, a Boston-based news site covering “innovation in technology and startups, VC and finance, higher education, and city life.”

With our recent funding milestone, BostInno listed us as one of 15 companies in the Boston area ready to take on exceptional growth. Check out their full article here.

BloombergNEF Highlights VIA as Data Procurement for AI Specialist

/ /by

VIA was recently mentioned in a report published by Amanda Ahl at BloombergNEF. The report titled, “Blockchain Opportunities in Power Still Abound,” discusses the total global addressable market for blockchain in the power sector and how it could surpass $100 billion in 2030. Applications for renewable energy certificates, cybersecurity, and AI are among the reasons for this potential growth. 

Graphic featured in BloombergNEF article, “Blockchain Opportunities in Power Still Abound”

Meet the Team: Jonathan Chirwa, Software Developer

/ /by

VIA’s Meet the Team blog series features Q&A-style interviews with our team members to learn what a typical work day looks like for each individual and some fun facts like their favorite foods.

What does a typical day at VIA look like for you?

My day always begins with a warm cup of coffee and sending a “good morning” message on Slack signaling my availability for the day. Then, I review yesterday’s work to help prioritize tasks for the day and I also attend two daily standup meetings with the team. After standup, I get to work! A typical day ranges in terms of tasks, from lone/pair programming, preparing a presentation/demo, or researching a technology to use in a feature, like OAuth2 framework to improve the security of our user management system in authorizing and authenticating users.

What project have you worked on at VIA that you are most proud of?

The first project I worked on at VIA was a logging project that improves program observability and helps developers easily debug. I’m proud to say that after completion of the project, other teams at VIA have been using it as part of their daily routine. I love that I was able to contribute to the whole team’s productivity early on at VIA.

What’s something everyone may not (but should!) know about working at VIA?

Since our work life has been remote in the last year, companies have been finding ways to motivate teams and keep company culture at the same, if not higher, level. I think our team has come up with a creative idea: VIA awards teammates with VIA-bucks (points) when something happens that is unique to working remotely like forgetting to unmute yourself or having your pet interrupt a video call. This has really eased the transition to online meetings. Pretty cool right? 🙂

What’s your favorite VIA memory?

My favorite memories at VIA are almost always from our team events. For example, our team played a game called “ling your language” where we listened to short clips of people speaking in different languages across the world and had to identify the language from a given set of options. During the game, I left it to my fellow team members who are from or have lived in parts of the world like the Middle East, Europe, Asia, North or South America, to identify the language in the clip. Vice versa, I would help more in identifying African languages.

Apart from earning some VIA-bucks (which we will redeem for a group event once we are back in person together), it reminded me of how diverse the VIA team is and how we work best when we are collaborating.

What makes VIA’s technology unique compared to others?

The idea of sharing code instead of data to compute some analytics is something I have never heard of, until I learned of VIA. In this world where data is gold but there are a lot of valid privacy and security concerns, our TAC™ technology is a game changing solution.

If you were given an extra hour in your day, what would you spend it doing?

Great question! If I were to live in a 25 hours/day Earth 2.0 world, I would spend that extra hour reading a good book. This may be spiritual, philosophical, historical or a how-to like Atomic Habits, which teaches useful techniques to develop new “good” habits and stop potentially “bad” habits.

What’s one fun fact that you have learned about clean energy that you didn’t know before joining VIA?

During my first week at VIA, I had several onboarding meetings with teammates ranging from discussions about social media to our tech stack. In one particular meeting, we covered the energy landscape. I was surprised and excited to learn that 2020 was the first year that clean energy was cheaper to produce than non-renewable/fossil energy.

We have to ask, what is your go-to food?

My go-to food is a beef burger. I haven’t mastered a homemade one yet, maybe because I tasted Montreal’s “Burger Royal” which set the bar too high.

Mergermarket Interviews Colin Gounden About the Future of VIA

/ /by

VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden, was interviewed by Michael Schoeck of Mergermarket, a financial news and data firm that specializes in M&A intelligence. Colin talks about how our recent funding round will help us expand our reach to power providers, our data security standards, and more. 

The article is part of a subscription service offered by Mergermarket.

VIA Raises $10M in Milestone Series A Investment Round

/ /by

New Capital Investments Underscore the Platform Company’s Powerful Promise to Accelerate Clean Energy Adoption

SOMERVILLE, Mass., May 11, 2021 — VIA, a global trailblazer in AI and privacy-preserving software for the energy industry, announced today that it closed a $10 million Series A investment, more than doubling its valuation. VIA chose the Westly Group as its lead investor. This round will fuel the company’s next phase of growth, including hiring best-in-industry talent, expanding its customer base (particularly in the U.S. and Western Europe), and continuing to fast-track delivery of its groundbreaking software platform, in support of its clean energy mission.

The Westly Group was joined by a top five Silicon Valley-based enterprise software company, as well as Prefix Capital, a leading deep technology-focused venture capital firm.

“We founded VIA because of the urgent need for AI in the energy space. The grid simply cannot adopt 100% clean technologies without AI. Data access and privacy were always major hurdles – until VIA,” said Colin Gounden, CEO of VIA. “We’re exceptionally pleased to see our traction and results recognized. This investment will help us meet the exponentially growing customer demand for our platform in the power sector.”

VIA partners with governments, regulators, and power providers to deliver billions of dollars in energy every year to more than 100 million customers worldwide. Its current roster of customers includes energy sector leaders such as ConEd, Enel, and Hawaiian Electric. In addition, VIA has an ongoing evaluation with EPRI, a consortium of more than 400 utilities. With two issued patents and more than 12 pending, VIA’s first-of-its-kind, privacy-preserving AI platform, Trusted Analytics Chain™ (TAC™), also meets the highest DevSecOps standards, as evidenced by its fifth selection by the U.S. Department of Defense earlier this year. TAC™ makes AI available everywhere to enable reliable and consistent clean energy on the grid. 

“The Series A market today is more competitive than any time in the last 10 years. Companies really need to show significant momentum before closing their Series A,” explained Danny Cotter, partner at the Westly Group. “VIA has proven incredible commercial uptake with its innovative technologies in a traditionally conservative space by partnering with some of the largest power providers in the world.”

“Great founders build great companies that change the world and VIA has followed this path from inception,” added Byron Alsberg, founding partner at Prefix Capital. “This investment is further validation of the strength of VIA’s vision, team, and technology.”  

VIA anticipates key hires over the next several months as well as major customer and partner announcements. Follow the latest from VIA by visiting www.solvewithvia.com/latest/ or on social @solvewithvia.

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. Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, with a technology center in Montreal, Quebec, VIA has been featured in Wired and Inc. Magazine for its leadership in technology innovation. For more information, please visit www.solvewithvia.com.

About The Westly Group

The Westly Group invests in smart energy and mobility and has 15 of the world’s larger energy and auto companies as investors. The firm has over $500M AUM and has had six companies go public including Tesla Motors and Luminar.

About Prefix Capital

Prefix Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups with transformational technologies, which can range from biotech and life sciences to next-generation mobility, energy, wireless, and infrastructure platforms to new computing and AI technologies. Prefix Capital’s investment track record includes large exits and portfolio companies that have gone on to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in follow-on capital.