A Kentucky-based software company has been sold for an undisclosed amount, marking another exit for one of the commonwealth's serial entrepreneurs.
LobbyFox has been acquired by Transmission, an artificial intelligence-powered content and communication software company, according to a news release. The acquiring company also purchased Industrial Communications, a digital signage software division of Eyeconic.TV.
LobbyFox was founded in 2019 by Jeremy Jacobs, who sold his cannabis tech startup, Enlighten, to WM Technology (Nasdaq: MAPS) in May 2022. Headquartered in the Innovation Campus at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, LobbyFox provides visitor management software for thousands of manufacturing facilities.
Notably, Eyeconic.TV, a holding company, was founded by Jacobs in the early 2000s, according to his LinkedIn profile. Industrial Communications, which has hundreds of clients across six countries, creates employee-facing custom content displayed on digital signage and accessible via tablets inside factories, the release said.
"Manufacturing is the lifeblood of the American economy and a source of many essential jobs for our people. The dynamics of work inside the manufacturing industry present unique communication challenges for this largely deskless workforce," said Jeff Fiala, CEO of Transmission, in the release."The statistics are undeniable- manufacturing is facing record-high employee turnover rates and exorbitant safety incident costs, which are hampering productivity in an industry that is already facing margin pressure. With 75% of the manufacturing workforce being characterized as unengaged, there is a tremendous opportunity for us to support our customers and their employee retention and safety goals."
Transmission — which is also headquartered in Bowling Green, according to its LinkedIn page — aims to support employee engagement in manufacturing by driving communication across channels and through content to build safer factories and reduce turnover, the release continued.
The deal includes the entire LobbyFox integrated software suite, its assets and its team. It's not immediately clear if Jacobs has a new role with Transmission, although his LinkedIn says he's still serving as the vice president of in-store solutions at WM Technology. I have reached out to him, and this story could be updated.
Following the acquisition, the clients of both LobbyFox and Industrial Communications will have access to a wider range of tools and functionality to support their facility operations while maintaining the same superior customer experience, the release says.
