Ornicept has a new brand for its product, a few new customers, and is making way to raise even more money later this year.
The downtown Ann Arbor-based startup has rebranded its field data collection software (formerly called GeoTraverse) to Specteo. It has gone beyond its Beta launch and started lining up customers as it fleshes out its mobile platform.
"We have been hitting sales mode pretty quickly and heavily," says Justin Otani, co-founder of
Ornicept. "We also have been adding features and improving functionality."
Otani co-founded Ornicept with Russell Conard two years ago, originally developing bird monitoring technology for airports and wind farms. Last year it pivoted to creating a mobile software platform that helps researchers and inspectors collect data in the field. It started on Andriod tablets and is expanding beyond that.
"We have an iOS version coming out later this year," Conard says.
Ornicept raised a $600,000 angel round last year that helped get its product to market. It is aiming to raise a Series A round of investment later this year. The company has hired four people over the last year (two marketing professionals and another two sales professionals), expanding its staff to 14 people.
Source: Justin Otani and Russell Conard, co-founders of Ornicept
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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