Remote pioneers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/06/2020 (2073 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Librestream was founded almost 20 years ago in Winnipeg, it effectively invented a whole new business space providing sophisticated collaboration tools to the remote technician.

Since managing a remote workforce is now a fact of life for so many companies, it’s providing Librestream’s technology more visibility in the mainstream.

But even before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the company was on pace to double revenue this year.

It was also planning to raise capital, and Wednesday it announced the closing of its latest round of financing, raising $24 million that will allow it to extend its reach from North America and Europe, where it is currently focused, and extend into new vertical markets like telehealth and retail.

John Bishop, who took over as CEO from founder Kerry Thacher last fall, said fundraising always takes longer than anticipated and the uncertainty of the current times made it that much trickier to navigate.

“We started to recognize that the market was becoming more mature and there was an opportunity to have a bigger investment in the space,” Bishop said. “We’re really pleased with how it went.”

Librestream’s Onsight augmented reality platform allows for all sorts of digital collaboration in a secure setting, even in the world’s toughest environments and where broadband availability is compromised. For instance, a worker on a deep-sea oil rig can take video of a malfunctioning unit and talk to an expert at headquarters to diagnose the problem in real time.

Companies in more than 120 countries are now using the technology and usage has increased more than 400 per cent over the last couple of years and spiked more than 10 times in some areas over the past few months.

In its early days the company began as a hardware company, developing a specialized camera before the introduction of the iPhone. It now operates as a software and service company whose technology can be used across all sorts of hardware platforms including augmented reality glasses.

As the company that invented the business concept, it spent a long time convincing potential customers of the need for the service, but now, with annual revenue of at least $10 million — the company does not disclose specific financial metrics — it is a clear leader in its field and has a host of Fortune 500 companies as its customers, including Airbus, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, GM, Verizon and Volvo.

The financing round was led by Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF) and joined by Export Development Canada (EDC) and Pender Technology Inflection Fund. Existing investors, including Swiss-based Emerald Technology Ventures and BDC Capital also participated in the round.

CBGF, the $500-million fund formed a couple of years ago that’s backed by the largest financial institutions in the country, has been on a tear, making six investments during the COVID-19 crisis.

George Rossolatos, CEO of the fund, said “Librestream may not be a run-of-the-mill technology company but these days it is clear how its technology can help companies operate, improving the safety and operational efficiency of a global workforce.”

The company will use the additional capital to beef up its sales force to develop business in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

It will also likely grow its total workforce of about 100 people by 50 per cent over the next two years. About half of those people are based in Winnipeg, where engineering, finance and marketing activities are based.

The company offered its services free of charge for 30 days amid the global lockdown and has had significant takeup. Thacher, now the company chairman, said the pandemic has forced the concept of the remote worker to the forefront.

“It’s weird to say we are benefiting from a thing like COVID, but on the other hand we are helping a lot of companies that require this kind of technology,” he said.

Bishop said while there has always been a group of workers that have worked remotely repairing and inspecting equipment, it’s like they have been a forgotten community.

“They rarely have a physical office,” he said. “They have not had the same digital tools and the pandemic is an event where everyone needs to be connected with digital tools.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca