Owl Labs

Owl Labs is a company that makes 360° video conferencing devices called the "Meeting Owl"[1][2] and the "Meeting Owl Pro".[3] It was founded in 2014 by robotics experts Max Makeev and Mark Schnittman.[4] It raised a total of $7.3M in venture capital from seed and Series A rounds led by serial entrepreneur Andy Rubin (via his Playground Global fund), Antonio Rodriguez (general partner at Matrix Partners) and iRobot Ventures.[5][6][7][8][9][10] In June 2017, it announced its Meeting Owl device.[11][12] VentureBeat noted that unlike others Meeting Owl has "...a single 360-degree camera that can recognize and highlight the person speaking..."[13] The device contains a Qualcomm Snapdragon.[14] Frank Weishaupt joined Owl Labs as CEO in January 2019 following a year of significant revenue and customer growth in 2018.[15] In April 2019, Owl Labs announced it had closed its Series B investment round led by Spark Capital with continued participation from existing investors Matrix Partners and Playground Global.[16] Owl Labs was recognized by the New England Venture Capital Association with a NEVY Award for "Hottest Tech Startup".[17] With the launch of the "Meeting Owl Pro", the second generation Meeting Owl that brings teams together for better work, Owl Labs produced a solution with 2X louder speaker volume, 2X sharper 1080p video, and a wider microphone pickup radius with built-in equalizer.[18] The "Meeting Owl Pro" was named a CES 2020 Innovation Awards Winner, 2020 Red Dot Design Award Winner, and 2020 SXSW Innovation Awards Finalist.[19] Additionally, Owl Labs introduced its "Smart Meeting Room" allowing meeting spaces to become increasingly intelligent over time with new smart integrations and capabilities.[18] John Stevens and other key executives were hired in 2019 to accelerate expansion of the growing technology company, including elevating Karen Rubin to CRO.[20] Owl Labs' products are used by 35,000+ companies globally across a wide array of categories.[18]

Owl Labs
IndustryVideo conferencing devices
Founded2014
Founders
  • Max Makeev
    • Mark Schnittman
HeadquartersSomerville, Massachusetts, United States
Key people
  • Frank Weishaupt (CEO)
    • Karen Rubin (CRO)
    • John Stevens (CFO)
    • Lauren Vingiano (VP Business Development & Partnerships)
ProductsMeeting Owl, Meeting Owl Pro
Number of employees
50+ (2020)
Websitewww.owllabs.com
The Meeting Owl is a 360 degree video conferencing device.

References
  1. Rosen, Andy (2017-06-21). "Owl Labs unveils a new conferencing device". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  2. "Owl Labs Unveils the First Intelligent All-In-One 360° Video Conferencing Device". PR Newswire (Press release). 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  3. "Owl Labs' Meeting Owl Pro is a smart speaker specially designed for video conferences". AFP Relax News. 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  4. Martin, Dylan (2016-08-17). "Two iRobot Vets Have Raised $5M for Their Video Conferencing Startup, Owl Labs". BostInno. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  5. "Owl Labs". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  6. Maffei, Lucia (2017-05-09). "iRobot and HubSpot Alumni Launch Owl Labs with a $6M Series A". BostInno. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  7. Engel, Jeff (2017-05-09). "Owl Labs Grabs $6M Led by Matrix, Teases Video Conferencing Device". Xconomy. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  8. Briodagh, Ken (2017-05-09). "Alumni from iRobot and HubSpot Launch Owl Labs with $6 Million Series A". IoT Evolution. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  9. Hofherr, Justine. "Somerville's Owl Labs busts out of stealth mode with $6M in funding". Built In Boston. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  10. O'Brien, Kelly J. (2017-05-09). "Andy Rubin-backed Owl Labs launches, but tech is still a mystery". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  11. Davis, Cindy (2017-06-21). "The Coolest Product Cloaked in Secrecy at InfoComm17". AV Network. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  12. Goode, Lauren (2017-06-21). "Andy Rubin-backed Owl Labs just launched a robotic video conference camera". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  13. Johnson, Khari (2017-06-21). "Meeting Owl is a 360-degree camera backed by Andy Rubin's Playground Ventures". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2017-06-22. Meeting Owl looks like a lot of smart speakers that have come to market but, unlike others, a single 360-degree camera that can recognize and highlight the person speaking sits atop the device.
  14. "Video conferencing gets wiser with the Snapdragon powered Meeting Owl". Qualcomm OnQ Blog. 2017-06-22. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  15. "Owl Labs Announces Former CarGurus Executive Frank Weishaupt as Chief Executive Officer". Owl Labs. 2019-01-15. Retrieved 2019-01-15.
  16. "Owl Labs Raises $15M in Series B Funding". Owl Labs. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  17. "Owl Labs Wins 'Hottest Tech Startup' at the New England Venture Capital Association's 2019 NEVY Awards". Markets Insider. 2019-05-09. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  18. "Owl Labs Launches Meeting Owl Pro & Smart Meeting Room Ecosystem". Owl Labs. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  19. "Owl Labs Named As CES 2020 Innovation Awards Winner". Owl Labs. 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  20. "Owl Labs Names John Stevens As Chief Financial Officer; And Announces Promotion And Hiring Of Key Executives". Owl Labs. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-26.


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