Every year Dell runs a competition for start ups in the UK. The competition is aimed at giving one Start-up a boost to its chances of success. This year the winner is Blue Sense Networks, a proximity iBeacon solution that has been in existence since 2013.
Competition among start-ups is tough and this year Dell opted for a more mature company than last years winner Fantoo. Blue Sense Networks beat competition in the final from Digi.me, Imagine Cyber Security and The Link App, who were chosen by the UK Dell leadership team.
To win the final Blue Sense Networks had to submit a 500 word elevator pitch including its investment status and a short video. The panel of judges led by Tim Griffin, vice president & managing director, Dell U.K. selected the proximity data startup after some deliberation.
Griffin commented “I’m delighted to welcome Blue Sense Networks to Dell UK’s offices. This year’s competition was tough, with an impressive set of companies applying to become the next Startup-in-Residence. After much debate we finally chose the Blue Sense Networks team because of the company’s growth potential, its technological skills and an ethos that aligns with Dell’s entrepreneurial spirit.”
So what have Blue Sense Networks won, one only needs to turn to last years winner Jordan Fantaay, founder of Fantoo, commented: “Becoming a resident startup at Dell opened so many more doors than we could have imagined to potential partners and customers. The ability to save thousands of pounds on rent and computing technology, along with access to resources and information that’s often closed to early-stage companies, has enabled us to focus more on driving innovation and growth of the company.”
Blue Sense networks start their residency and access to Dell’s mentorship from September. Vladimir Petrov, founder and chief executive officer of Blue Sense Networks, is clearly delighted with the win and commented: “We have reached a major milestone in our recognition as an innovator in the field, by earning the trust of Dell and becoming the next Startup-in-Residence.
“Blue Sense Networks is committed to providing best in class proximity technology to help our partners and clients reach actionable insights and deliver relevant proximity experience to their customers. We are very much looking forward to expanding our reach into new markets and, with the support of Dell, we can now focus on innovation and technological excellence.”
So who are Blue Sense networks
Founded in 2013 they provide a complete solution for companies to start using proximity data solutions. They are able to provide iBeacon hardware for all locations, outdoors, indoors as well as both battery and mains powered. They have a cloud based platform hosted within Rackspace that provide the management and engagement platform for their iBeacon hardware and also the software development kits to beacon configuration including ProximitySence RESTful API’s and samples of iBeacon apps for both Android and iOS devices.
With customers such as Vodafone, Hyatt, PWC and BP to name a few they are clearly well set to take advantage of the competition win and clearly Dell believes that they can help with this nascent IOT company and its potential growth explosion.
Conclusion
In Blue Sense Networks Dell appears to have chosen a startup on the verge of success, further down the track than Fantoo was last year and a different style of winner. The scale of the challenge for the company is different from Fantoo and it appears they have already had success. Dell is likely to be helping Blue Sense Networks with scaling their growth, start ups can go through several growth spurts and the mentoring that Dell we hope will see them flourish over the next two years.
