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About us
We are the leading provider of Web3 technologies to the U.S. Department of Defense and critical infrastructure companies.
Our mission
We make communities cleaner, safer, and more equitable through real-time verification, automated ingestion, and secure analysis of private data
Major awards and recognition
GITEC nominates VIA and DIU for outstanding achievement in “Advancing Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics” for the federal government
The U.S. Department of the Navy's acting CTO, Justin Fanelli and PEO Digital's Katie Wildman, MA, PMP recently selected VIA to share the podcast limelight with them on the Pair Program, a podcast that “gives you a front-row seat to conversations with tech leaders in the startup world.”
USAF and VIA celebrate eJARVIS, the next generation of VIA’s JARVIS solution, designed specifically for energy installation management with a higher security clearance.
INL was appointed by the DOE as the laboratory of choice to evaluate how well VIA’s software works in verifying sensitive carbon data during charging events without revealing sensitive information.
Our team
Whether it’s experience growing startups, implementing brand new technologies, or working with complex power systems, collectively our team has what it takes to make VIA stand out in the crowd.
As VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden leads VIA’s technology roadmap into Web3. This includes the development of VIA’s blockchain in 2017 and the commercial application of zero-knowledge proofs in 2022. VIA is a climate solutions provider on a mission to make communities cleaner, safer, and more equitable. After co-founding VIA, Colin secured several of the world’s leading energy and mobility companies and the U.S. Department of Defense as customers.
Colin began his career with IBM in Europe, the U.S., and Mexico, before co-founding a technology services firm that he grew and sold for $98M in 1999. In the early 2000s, he was a partner and elected board director at a top-five global strategy consulting and $2Bn private equity firm.
In 2006, Colin founded Grail Research, where, as CEO, he grew the company to a global analytics firm serving sophisticated companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple. Colin sold Grail and became the president of the acquiring company overseeing 2,000 people across 18 locations. From 2012 to 2016, Colin was the first investor and co-founder of three MIT spinouts and one Harvard spinout, two of which became profitable in their first year of operations.
Colin graduated from Harvard University and is a co-inventor of multiple VIA patents.
As a co-founder, Kate established VIA’s client service program to make the company’s technologies more accessible to a broader group, beyond artificial intelligence (AI) specialists and mathematicians.
She has been certified by FERC as an expert in AI. Kate’s previous experience with smart grid technology is the reason why VIA is providing solutions to the energy industry.
Before VIA, Kate was with Grail Research, where she oversaw 10 to 20 clients per year and grew select accounts to multi-year, million-dollar per year contracts. She joined the company in its first year of operation and helped build the firm’s marketing, finance, and account management functions. Prior to joining Grail Research, Kate worked with one of the world’s leading public relations firms, Weber Shandwick.
Kate graduated summa cum laude from Northeastern University with a degree in organizational communication.
As co-founder and CSO, Jeremy monitors state-of-the-art research developments in AI and machine learning to help benefit VIA’s energy clients.
Jeremy’s recent research includes topics in explainable and interpretable AI, causal inference, distributed learning, and privacy-conserving machine learning.
Jeremy has been founder or first-hire in multiple startups, all centered around commercializing machine learning and simulation technologies. He has a long track record of solving difficult problems in computational science, including his role as CTO at Atomistix, where he developed and provided simulation tools to the R&D labs of the world’s leading electronic manufacturers.
Jeremy received his Ph.D. in physics from McGill University and has held research positions at the Technical University of Denmark and the Canadian Centre for Magnetic Fusion, located at Hydro-Québec’s IREQ campus.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joebabiec/
VIA
Joe Babiec
Chief Commercial Officer
Joe brings more than twenty years of experience consulting with companies on their corporate strategies, including product launches, enhancing brand image, and integrating both teams and products across a wide variety of industries like software and electricity.
His primary focus at VIA is stewarding client relationships from first introductions through product implementations. He plays a major role in gathering feedback and understanding market needs across stakeholders in the energy industry. Joe is also VIA’s primary representative at industry gatherings.
Before VIA, Joe was a partner and practice leader at several leading global strategy consulting firms and a senior advisor to government, industry, and civic leaders on technology and innovation strategies for improving global competitiveness.
Joe graduated from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, and from the London School of Economics with a master’s degree in political economics.
Jesus is responsible for the technical roadmap, architectural design, and integration for all of VIA’s products. He provides oversight on technical development at VIA to ensure high quality product delivery for customers. In addition, he led the architectural design of VIA’s Web3 platform.
Before joining VIA, Jesus was with TandemLaunch, a venture capital firm specializing in the commercialization of early-stage technologies. He held several roles there: a technologist in residence and later a software architect and founding member of Sensaura, an emotion tracking technology. Jesus created a strategy for the architecture of Sensaura’s platform, taking into account the adaptability of devices to the system and use cases. He also developed applications to demo Sensaura’s technology at events including CES Las Vegas. In addition, he developed the real-time emotion recognition API.
Jesus earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial electronics and automatic engineering and his master’s degree in automatic and robotic from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleydasilva/
VIA
Ashley DaSilva, Ph.D.
Vice President, Applications
Ashley is focused on application development at VIA, where she helps teams build on VIA’s core platform to create secure data analytics applications. She led the architectural design and initial development of the GDAC™ pilot program, SWEET™, and JARVIS™ applications.
Prior to VIA, Ashley worked as a researcher in theoretical physics, building models and simulations to describe physical phenomena, where she gained experience with data analytics and high performance computation. She also volunteered leading initiatives to support individuals from underrepresented groups in physics and technology, including the initiation of a grant program for professional networking and mentoring programs.
Ashley has a Ph.D. in physics from the Pennsylvania State University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a minor in Mathematics.
Emma is responsible for cultivating VIA’s high-performance workplace and leads all aspects of hiring, retaining, and developing top talent. Emma worked with leading Harvard academics and Apple University veterans to develop and rollout VIA’s feedback and mentoring programs and wider organizational design strategy. She also led the selection and buildout of VIA’s new Montreal office. Emma has been instrumental in maintaining high employee engagement, morale, and wellness in VIA’s transition to remote working during COVID-19.
Prior to joining VIA, Emma was the founding member of a Berlin-based tech startup. As People Ops & Engagement Manager, Emma grew the team from 20 to 80 employees.
Emma graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand with bachelor’s degrees in Commerce and Arts, and majored in Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Management, and Media Studies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristencoffinmerrill/
VIA
Kristen Merrill
Vice President, Client Delivery
Kristen brings nearly twenty years of client management experience to her role, and has led several high-stakes projects since joining in 2017 including predictive maintenance on 10,000 miles of transmission line data and contingency planning to restore power after multiple simultaneous switch failures.
Before VIA, Kristen was co-founder and head of client services at Fuld Omniscope where she led an array of projects, including leading a workshop focused on the utilities sector alongside one of their largest clients. Prior to Fuld, Kristen was with Grail Research where she was responsible for business development, account planning, and project delivery for some of their most important accounts. She was a senior consultant at the Monitor Group and a member of the leadership team within the Monitor Software business unit, where she specialized in data visualization and analytics, decision support models, dashboards, and forecasting tools.
Kristen graduated from Cornell University with a degree in chemical engineering.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmuddle/
VIA
John Muddle, Ph.D.
Vice President, Software Engineering
John is focused on implementing best practices for software development at VIA. He co-invented VIA’s core platform and currently develops, integrates, and quality assurance tests the platform for VIA’s applications.
Before VIA, John was a freelance consultant at the Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG), where he focused on updating their Python Library. Prior to this position, he was a technical sales support engineer at NAG in Oxford, where he developed technical marketing material and provided pre-sales assistance. John was awarded the best thesis in gravitation physics in 2016 by the Institute of Physics (IOP). His research focused on developing new numerical methods that capture the physical behavior of fluid interfaces permeated by high magnetic fields while taking into account relativistic effects.
John earned his master’s degree in physics and his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Southampton.
Upcoming events
Currently, there are no upcoming events. Check back soon to see where our leaders at VIA are heading next!
Managing Director, Investments at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Hilary Flynn, joined us at VIA HQ for the latest interview of our VIA Visionaries series. The chat with VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden, covered why she chose energy as her focus, the mission at MassCEC, and how we can achieve collective climate goals.
VIA was thrilled to host Shalaya Morissette, Chief of the Minority Business and Workforce Division at the DOE for the next installment of our VIA Visionaries interview series. We chatted about her work in energy, the team she leads, and where she finds her inspiration.
In the fifth and final installment of our summer learning series, we talk about zero-knowledge proofs and how they can be done right in just three ways.
Two days of packed offices, the ultimate game of rock, paper, scissors, and one next-level, friendly competition among colleagues, our Power Up! had it all!
School is back in session and we are learning from Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business at The Fletcher School, what we can do to help raise awareness for digital inclusion.
Client Delivery? Tell me more! Hear directly from our team members what it’s like to be on the Client Delivery Team at VIA in this snappy 3-minute video.
Graham Turk from MIT Energy Initiative discusses clean energy and innovative utility practices in our special “What’s your mission?” Earth Day edition of VIA Visionaries, filmed on location at MIT.
Extra! Extra! ZKPs and their ability to balance privacy and verification are top of mind for our customers. Learn how we do it in this director’s cut of Fast and Curious.
The latest VIA Visionaries livestream covers energy efficiency in smart buildings, user behavior, and the impact of AI on Switzerland's energy systems.
In January, team members from VIA traveled to Switzerland to meet with government, energy, and auto industry leaders. Not to mention, CEO Colin Gounden, participated on an AI and blockchain panel alongside senior executives from UBS and Accenture in Davos.
Major General Kim Crider (ret.), the former Chief Data Officer for the United States Air Force and Chief Technology Innovation Officer for the United States Space Force, joined us for the latest VIA Visionaries live stream event. The chat covered the challenges and opportunities with today’s tremendous amount of data, the inspirational projects at Maj. Gen. Crider’s current company, Elara Nova, and things to look forward to in the AI space in 2024 and beyond.
Ann Davlin, Partnership Development & Commercialization at Constellation, the largest producer of clean, carbon-free energy in the U.S., stopped by VIA’s HQ for an excellent chat with VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden. The two talked about Ann’s experience in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Environmental Security, her role at Constellation, and trends in hydrogen today.
Managing Director, Investments at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Hilary Flynn, joined us at VIA HQ for the latest interview of our VIA Visionaries series. The chat with VIA’s CEO, Colin Gounden, covered why she chose energy as her focus, the mission at MassCEC, and how we can achieve collective climate goals.
VIA was thrilled to host Shalaya Morissette, Chief of the Minority Business and Workforce Division at the DOE for the next installment of our VIA Visionaries interview series. We chatted about her work in energy, the team she leads, and where she finds her inspiration.
In the fifth and final installment of our summer learning series, we talk about zero-knowledge proofs and how they can be done right in just three ways.
In the third installment of our summer learning series, we give a quick introduction to zero-knowledge proofs and an example of how they can be applied in cryptocurrency.
If you’re Web3 savvy, you’ll have followed the rise of decentralized storage. In part one of a two-part series, we test whether decentralized storage is really faster than centralized storage?
In the highly anticipated sequel, 2 Fast 2 Curious covers the foreign policy side of blockchain and summarizes why Web3 impacts domestic and foreign policy.
VIA’s CEO sat down for an exclusive interview with Jared Favole, Senior Director, Communications and Policy at Circle, and former White House Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, to talk about blockchain and domestic and foreign policy.
This year’s Power Up! had a $1,000 prize for the team that found an easy way for AI to boost productivity at VIA. We share the winning team’s solution and are open sourcing it for the developer community.
Wallets aren't just for cryptocurrency transactions. We walk through an example of how an equipment manufacturer can utilize a wallet to digitally sign, speed up authorization, and build trust - all with Department of Defense-level cybersecurity.
In this Mastery Monday, we go over what makes VIAsecurechain different from all the other blockchains: it was imperative not only to use blockchain, but to build the world’s first blockchain accredited by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Last year we wrote that 2022 would be all about scale - and it surely was. In this blog, we reflect on VIA’s milestones and how our VIA values guided us throughout this year.
Cryptocurrency - what does it have to do with data privacy? You’ve asked great questions. For the third installment of your top burning questions series, we discuss the crypto in cryptocurrency.
You ask great questions. You deserve great answers. For the second installment of your top burning questions series, we’re sharing why we work with the U.S. Department of Defense and what it means to have a top secret cybersecurity accreditation.
Meet Santiago Vázquez Enríquez, Senior DevOps Specialist at VIA. We asked Santiago about his favorite VIA memory, his proudest accomplishment, how he balances work and being a busy dad, and so much more!
Meet Maria Cesarini, Data Specialist at VIA. We asked Maria how she maintains a good work-life harmony, some of her favorite VIA memories, her go-to podcasts, and more!
Meet Angelica Novoa, People and Operations Partner at VIA. We asked Angelica about her typical day at work, the VXP program, her proudest accomplishments, and more!
Did you attend SmartCon 2022? If not, have no fear! VIA’s CEO Colin Gounden gives a 90 second recap of his talk at the event in this Mastery Monday blog post.
For the tenth installment of our “Transformer Tuesday” series we’re taking our dedicated readers along on a journey with Annie the Asset Manager from ABC Power as she discovers how to provide the stronger supporting evidence required to approve rate case changes.
Meet Sam Cruickshank, Market Strategy Specialist at VIA. We asked Sam about his favorite memory at VIA to date, the customer success story he has found most exciting, and so much more!
You’ve asked great questions. We’re sharing some of the more frequent ones we hear and providing our answers in a series of Monday Mastery blogs, starting today!
At last, Ethereum is changing to Proof-of-Stake. With power blackouts and electricity prices skyrocketing, the timing couldn't be better. Read on to learn why this is critical for the energy sector.
A rise in the frequency and severity of extreme events are impacting the reliability of the electric grid. As summer comes to a close and we face the winter ahead, there is an urgent need to get consumers to actively participate in programs to reduce energy consumption. Read how Web3 can play a major role here.
The ninth installment of our “Transformer Tuesday” series highlights how GDAC™ expands transformer health knowledge across utility personnel in order to mitigate gaps caused by employee retirement and turnover.
Your data tells the story of your life. This week, we demo a mathematical proof called zk-SNARK (an emerging Web3 standard) for energy data. This proof enables energy consumers to profit from their data while keeping their identities completely anonymous.
The Inflation Reduction Act announced on Tuesday has the potential to add billions of dollars to consumers’ wallets and purses each year. Read our blog to discover where VIA’s solutions come into play.
The seventh installment of our “Transformer Tuesday” series will highlight how GDAC™ can help electric utilities make smarter decisions, based on a holistic view of their fleet, when it comes to transformer replacement planning.
For the sixth installment of our blog series, “Transformer Tuesday,” we cover the ways electric vehicles (EVs) are challenging the condition of transformers and how GDAC™ can help.
For the second installment of “Mastery Monday with VIA” we’re sharing two excellent explanations of Zero-Knowledge Proofs and why the concept is critical to our world today.
NFTs have grown in popularity. And, so has attaching malware to them. Read our blog to learn more about how you can make the NFT community safer using VIA’s open-source code.
Take a journey through 2021 in this three-part reflection series written by a variety of VIA’s leaders. Part 1 written by Kate Ravanis will highlight our team, the VIAneers.
Meet Becky McClements, Market Strategy Specialist at VIA. Becky talks about projects she works on as part of VIA’s business development team and something people might not know about working at VIA.
Meet Jonathan Chirwa, Software Developer at VIA. Jonathan talks about the creative ways the team is staying engaged while working remote and the latest "how-to" book he's reading.
For our last post of 2020, we wanted to share a more personal note with our readers to talk about how grateful for the resiliency and flexibility our team has shown during this challenging year.
VIA has announced nine new features on TAC™ in the past 14 weeks. How are utilities using them? For starters, they are increasing clean energy adoption.
VIA has released a new 10-page white paper that provides a comprehensive overview and code examples of TAC™’s current data privacy and security features.
Most AI projects spend 80% of time cleaning data and only 20% analyzing it. VIA has been investing heavily in using our own AI and software development skills to reverse this ratio.
For the tenth installment of the series, we will discuss how TAC™ contracts can control what kinds of queries an authorized analyst can ask of the data.
Meet Natalie Winger, Data Specialist at VIA. Natalie talks about her experience joining VIA entirely remote and the funniest memory at VIA so far (spoiler: it includes a cat!).
Many utilities are concerned about the responsibility that comes with sensor datasets. As a result, the data gets trapped. VIA’s software platform, TAC™ was designed to address these issues in power sector data.
VIA has implemented homomorphic encryption (HE), which is cryptography that holds the promise of allowing computations on data while it remains encrypted.
VIA has implemented a k-anonymity function to help utilities meet requirements of regulators including releasing data for clean energy initiatives and mandating increased information privacy and security requirements.
Meet Ashley DaSilva, VIA's Team Leader, Product Development. Ashley talks about one of her passions outside of work and her favorite VIA memory (which happens to take place in the underground city of Montreal).
Meet our fabulous UX Designer, Annvie Nguyen! Annvie talks about her proudest accomplishment at VIA and some of the shenanigans that take place at our holiday parties!
Meet our Senior Lead, People and Operations, Emma Fechney! Emma talks about her greatest accomplishment at VIA so far and a potential side career for our team.
Meet John Muddle, VIA's Team Lead, Data Science. John walks us through a typical day for him at VIA and just how his favorite sandwich, the bacon butty, should be enjoyed!
VIA’s Ashley DaSilva, Team Leader, Product Development, was invited to lead a workshop on unit testing for McGill’s Computer Science Graduate Society. Ashley discussed the critical importance of software testing, why developers should embrace unit testing, and when and how to use mocking.
2018 was a blockbuster year for VIA, from product development to team growth, from press features to awards, and so much more. We are proud to share some of our highlights with you here, and we look forward to the year ahead!
The energy industry as a whole is more data-dependent than ever before. But, how can utilities balance consumers’ rights to data privacy, security, and anonymity, while leveraging this wealth of new information to improve service reliability and efficiency? At VIA, we are enhancing our Trusted Analytics Chain (TAC) platform to address this challenge.
Van Halen's music defined a genre (and a generation), but their impact reaches much further than the music world. In fact, you could argue Van Halen’s reach extends even into the blockchain boom we’re seeing today. How so? Well, Van Halen sort of invented the smart contract.
In order for our technology and solutions to stay cutting edge, we need to continue building, cultivating, and supporting the team that got us where we are today.
