Awingu’s U.S. Success Story
How this SMB from Belgium in the Information Technology and Services industry made it in the U.S.A
Country Of Origin
Belgium
U.S. HQ.
San Francisco
Industry
Information Technology and Services
Year Founded
2011
Number Of Employees
About 50
Annual revenue
$2.5M (estimate)
About Awingu
Awingu creates software that simplifies enterprise mobility and liberates legacy applications for the software users. In other words, Awingu is a developer of online workspace aggregator software. The software combines all company files and applications to one secure online workspace. Users can access the workspace from our device or operating system using any HTML5 based browser. Awingu’s platform mobilizes all company applications without disrupting the performance of the existing IT system. Collaboration and file sharing is as simple as sending a URL and thus there is no need for an agent on personal or corporate devices. With Awingu’s software in place, IT assets remain centrally secure and no data footprint is left behind for a safe way to implement Bring your own device (BYOD). Over the last few years, Awingu has become the fastest and easiest way to empower a mobile workforce.
The US Expansion
Serial entrepreneur Kristof De Spiegeleer founded Awingu in 2011. Walter Van Uytven became the new CEO and Michel Akkermans the new chairperson in 2014 that the Belgian startup started to do real business. Since then, the company has expanded their market to the US, in San Francisco and New York. At present, the company is active in 20 countries today.
In June 2016, Awingu announced an alliance with Ingram Micro Inc to expand the company’s mobility solution into the US reseller channel. Notably, this agreement aimed to extend the EMEA Ingram Micro relationship established the previous year with Awingu. That expended agreement meant to allow Ingram Micro to distribute both perpetual and subscription-based Awingu licensing to the US channel.
With the US expansion plan, Awingu software was improved to aggregate all company files and applications to one comprehensive system. The software can now be accessed using any device with an HTML5 browser. Moreover, the software is web-based mobility solution what does not require any client software to be installed on a device. Awingu anticipates that the flagship product to the US market will be an innovative solution to allow companies to deliver IT services in a new simple way.
The value proposition by Awingu will enable greater adoption and channel awareness for companies in the US. By teaming up with Ingram Micro, Awingu gained the ability to leverage the extensive reach of Ingram Micro in the US market. Remarkably, Ingram Micro assisted Awingu to penetrate the US market with their vast sales and marketing experience across the US.
Typically, the present office environment combines SaaS, The Web, Windows Server, Windows Desktop, and other older legacy applications. With the current software, all office applications can run on a server using RDP without any need to reprogram. In turn, this implies big cost savings for businesses.
Michel Akkermans, the chairperson of Awingu, strongly believes in the expansive growth plans. The plans will see the company capture more markets within the next three years. Awingu owns an extremely user-friendly technology, supported by a sharp organization, with abundant talent and experience. This will be a competitive advantage as the company aims to increase their marketing campaigns across all existing markets.
Financing the US Expansion
To finance the US expansion plan, Awingu raised an investment of 2.65 million Euros from some of its major shareholders. With this additional investment, Awingu was ready to expand internationally. This investment round was led by the reference shareholder Michel Akkermans (via SA Pamica) and Proximus. Since its inception, Awingu has already raised over 18 million Euros. That includes the venture capital fund Hummingbird Ventures, PMV, Proximus and Michel Akkermans.
The new financial injection will accelerate Awingu’s international expansion and strengthen its ambitious growth projection. To foster the international expansion, Awingu also established strong international partnerships with companies such as HP Enterprise, Google, Microsoft, and IBM. Most notably, the US market has been very receptive to the Awingu technology. Many companies in the US prefer Awingu technology for its use on any device.
Proximus CEO Dominique Leroy praises Awingu for its strong partnerships with innovative companies. He notes that Awingu is the foundation of Proximus’ innovation strategy. He adds that with Awingu’s platform, Proximus corporate customers can access their business applications and documents, anytime, anywhere, from any system. Dominique acknowledges how this allows for an easy and more efficient collaboration of employees.
The CEO of Awingu, Walter Van Uytven, is delighted with the additional investment. He highlights that the investment will give the company a new boost as they endeavor to take over the US market. In addition, the funds will enable the company to support existing and future customers even better.
Sources
Note: This company is not a client of, or associated in any other way with, Mount Bonnell Advisors, or has been involved in this publication. This content has been produced using the following information sources in the public domain:
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