SnapData could be the hottest D.C. area startup that you've never heard of. And that's probably because they're less than a year old but already have significant fanfare overseas in China.
They're an Internet-of-Things (IoT) cloud software startup that plays in the remote sensor market with big data analytics. The company's technology is used by what SnapData chief operating officer (COO) and current Rhein Tech Laboratories vice president Shelley Grandy described as "underserved" industrial clients that want to add a layer of data to their operations.
Earlier this month, Herndon, Va.-based SnapData won the Dongsheng Global Entrepreneurship Competition in Arlington, Va., to scoop a $15,000 cash prize and office space in the Dongsheng accelerator along with a flight to meet a cohort of China's top venture capitalists in Zhongguancun, Beijing, China's Silicon Valley.
The yearly competition is backed by Chinese VC firm and investment consultancy Dao Ventures and the Dongsheng Science and Technology Park, both of which hope to find high potential, early-stage, foreign tech companies that want to get involved with China's growing startup ecosystem.
Our team has arrived in China! pic.twitter.com/oddCWDj38n
— Snapdata.io (@SnapDataio) December 13, 2015
SnapData is, in essence, the producer of a software platform that pulls in various data streams from numerous remote internet-connected devices to measure things like GPS position, temperature, the fullness of a container, acoustics and travelling speed, among other things.
All this realtime data translates into a bank of insightful information that can save businesses on costs tied to inefficient logistics. SnapData does not produce the hardware, in other words the sensors, but instead makes the centralized backend for the collected data. Ongoing negotiations with hardware producers remains an important aspect of the business so that the company can one day sell a full "solution" package.
Grandy declined to comment on current negotiation between SnapData and prospective sensor partners.
Of note: SnapData is currently running pilots with a workable prototype for BGreen, Books for America and Southern States, a grain feed processing plant with hundreds of storage silos in the U.S., Grandy said.
In the case of Southern States, the company's technology collects data from a high radio frequency (RF) sensor installed inside each silo to provide realtime info about the conditions of the grain and how full the container is. With this tech, the grain company can reduce loses caused by spoiled product and overfilling.
Grandy also revealed to DC Inno that SnapData is in ongoing talks with petroleum company Holtzman Corp., national waste disposal and recycling giant Waste Management and the Town of Herndon.
"We hope to put our system in trash receptacles in the Town of Herndon for smart trash collection. Large waste collection companies can benefit, but also smaller towns that manage the trash collection from public trash can to the larger dumpster," said Grandy.
The big competition win for SnapData follows what has been a crazy year for the quasi-startup formed under the guidance of Rhein Tech executives and SnapData CEO/founder Jim Bland, previously an executive director with government tech contracting behemoth SAIC. Herndon, Va.-based Rhein Tech Laboratories is a consulting and engineering firm turned tech incubator in recent year that works on wireless technology and IT projects for the federal government. RheinTech is a majority stake owner in SnapData and serves as its landlord.
Bland, a Harvard alum and serial entrepreneur, has spent the last several decades in Virginia's tech corridor, spanning Dulles, Arlington, Herndon and Alexandria. In 2009, he founded CODi, a manufacturer of laptop bags and carrying cases for which he is no longer CEO.
In a phone interview with DC Inno, Grandy said that SnapData had received a great deal of private investor interest since the competition took place on December 2. A seed round of investment is expected to close in January or February 2016, while the team is currently meeting with Chinese VCs in Beijing. The seed round of funding will be used, she said, for hiring engineers, sales and marketing professionals. The funding would also effectively make SnapData less reliant on RheinTech funding and engineering support in the future.
The SnapData team currently sits at 4 full-time employees.
VIDEO:
