A Northern Kentucky-based software startup is seeing rapid growth this year.
Newport-based Rove iQ, formerly Smartlink, is expecting to generate just shy of $10 million in revenue in 2022 after never having that number exceed $1 million in its five-plus year history, according to the company's CEO P.J. Thelen. The startup also has more than doubled its employees in the last year, to 11 from five.
Rove iQ — partially owned by Mount Adams-based RKCA Investment Banking — develops software for interactive displays, focusing on smart kiosks, in mixed-use developments, cities, sports venues, hospitals and universities. One of the software's main functions is to provide 3D maps that help visitors navigate their spaces.
The startup announced its rebrand, from Smartlink to Rove iQ, on June 28. Thelen said the new name "better represents" the company. "We were adamant about having a name aligned to the solutions that we bring to market."
Thelen told me the company also provides "experiences," like augmented reality selfies, which function similarly to Snapchat or Instagram filters. It also has added a feature that allows users to take the displays with them on their mobile devices.
"Our software over the course of the last 18 months has matured significantly," he said.
Thelen attributed these additions to the company's recent success. He also touted Rove iQ's ability to contribute to the advertising world.
"When you're not interacting with our software, it runs digital out-of-home advertisements," he said, adding it's a "phenomenal growth opportunity."
And it's not just the advertisements themselves. The software also collects data on its users "to help our owners do something of value with that data," Thelen said.
"That's a big deal in our environment," he said.
As the company sees rapid growth, top economists predict the U.S. will slip into a recession next year — something Thelen is mindful of.
"You're always concerned about these words: Inflation, recession, etc.," Thelen said. "I wish we lived in a recession-proof environment, but we don't."
He said the company is "very dependent" on developers and cities having the cash to "take advantage of our software solution." So, "we monitor that as closely as we can," Thelen said.
But, he said, the company expects to continue generating "reasonable growth," meaning not at the highly accelerated pace the startup is seeing this year.
"There is no doubt that we have built an unbelievable foundation with proven people, process and tools that now have the ability to scale," Thelen said.
Thelen "grew up," he said, at Hebron-based Pomeroy Technologies LLC, an IT services company, where he spent 19 years of his career. He was the company's chief revenue officer for the last nine years of his tenure.
The technology services giant was sold to Amsterdam, Netherlands-based IT services firm Getronics in 2018. "For the first time in my life, I was not asked to be retained," he said. "Nor were any of the executives."
So, he pivoted and ran a Kroger Co. division called Sunrise Technology for a few years — having "an absolute blast," Thelen said.
He said that job gave him the "entrepreneurial bug," prompting him to come to Smartlink, now Rove iQ. "The progress we've made in the last 12 months has been unbelievable," Thelen said.
