Washington, D.C.-based Radius Networks is about to make a big splash in the mobile sensor market.
Radius develops low energy, cloud-based Bluetooth proximity beacons that can interact with nearby mobile devices. Built by a team of former SwapDrive engineers and executives — which was acquired by Norton/Symantec in 2008 for $123 million — the startup recently closed a $6.5 million seed funding round led by Core Capital Partners, Contour Venture Partners and Wa.-based Trilogy Equity Partners, Radius Networks co-founder and CEO Marc Wallace confirmed to DC Inno. Founded in 2011 and first appearing at CES in 2014, the company looks at 2015 to prove itself and to executive with its customers.
Until today, the Georgetown startup has remained in stealth-mode as relatively little information regarding the company or its speciality, Beacon Technology, had been released to the press. On Jan. 29, Radius Networks closed its most recent funding round, capping off a total of $8.4 million raised since 2012. Some of its current high profile customers include: the Verizon center, Fedex Field, CES, the Cleveland Museum of Art and National Geographic, Wallace told DC Inno.
2015 will be a transitional year for Radius Networks as Wallace and co. will push to become cash flow positive for the first time. Where 2014 was a year for development and product eduction/business outreach the new year will be geared towards product deployment and customer service solutions, Wallace said. Last April, Radius Networks acquired Herdon, Va.-based 4DK Technologies, a location-centric app and software developer.
Beacon Technology leverages the wireless signals of mobile devices, such as WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, to detect when visitors are in close proximity to important points-of-interest and uses this information to provide an understanding of customer patterns and behaviors. This micro-location proximity technology can be used for applications like precision indoor navigation, automatic ticketing, guided museum tours, and location-relevant offers, promotions and payment options.
“For 2015, we are focused on keeping up with demand and supporting customer rollouts … [and] we may decide to seek additional funding to help us stay ahead of a market that is exploding,” Wallace said.
It's important to note that Radius Networks' technology works on an opt-in basis, meaning that a user must provide consent — his/her user data cannot be sold to a third party for its own purposes. As Wallace said, “it’s really less about a retailer tracking you and more about you tracking them.” You have total control you of your device and can see the system, its options, and to share or not share. A distributor is then able to provide special location-specific offers and/or extra information.
Wallace declined to comment on larger, respective partners of the company but did say that roughly 90 of the top 100 Fortune 500 companies are already involved — also noting that one of the big two pharmacy franchises is currently a partner. But discussions with large consumer retailers like Macys and/or JCPenny have taken time because their focus is primarily on the Proximity Beacon’s marketing potential, Wallace told DC Inno.
