Livio Radio expands into software, adds to engineering group

Livio Radio has been expanding its workforce, expanding it product portfolio, and taking in a new award to round out a nice year of growth.

The Ferndale-based start-up has recently received the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2012 New Product Innovation Award for its Livio Connect API. Livio Connect's technology connects apps to cars, eliminating the need for constant support and one-on-one integration between consumers' smartphone apps and hardware devices.

"We have third-party validation for what we have been saying about our product for the last three years," says Jake Sigal, CEO & founder of Livio Radio.

The 4-year-old start-up got its start making Internet radios so people could listen to websites like Pandora without draining their computer battery. It has steadily expanded its product lineup to include Internet radios and similar products for automobiles. It even took in a venture capital investment from Beringea (Michigan's biggest VC) and Western Technology Investment last year.

Livio Radio's gross margins have increased over the last year, allowing it to hire three more people. The 15-person company has one opening for an engineer today. Helping make this growth possible is Livio Radio's expansion into software for its products, which it is also licensing out to other platforms.

"It's a new revenue stream for us," Sigal says. "We don't have to deal with assembly in China. All of our software is created in Ferndale."

Source: Jake Sigal, CEO & founder of Livio Radio
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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