HighByte Raises $875K Pre-Seed Round to Accelerate Growth
Industrial software company secures funding from strategic angels and institutional venture capital, including Maine Venture Fund and Momenta Ventures
Portland, ME, March 26, 2020 — HighByte®, an industrial software company, today announced the close of its pre-seed round funded by independent angel investors and early-stage venture capital firms, including Maine Venture Fund and Switzerland-headquartered Momenta Ventures. Funding was received as $625K in convertible debt matched by a $250K long-term, low-interest loan from Maine Technology Institute (MTI). The financing provides HighByte with the capital runway needed for business development activities and additional R&D headcount in 2020.
“These are challenging times for our manufacturing community as we start to understand the impact COVID-19 and other global factors will have on safety, productivity, and supply chain,” said HighByte CEO Tony Paine. “This makes it more important than ever to find partners who believe in our team, vision, and ability to execute in order to make industrial transformation a reality for our customers. All of our investors bring more than just cash to the table. They are strategic partners who share in our core values of honesty, commitment, and collaboration.”
To date, HighByte has funded the company through founder contributions and $100K in grants awarded by the aforementioned MTI. In January 2020, the company announced general availability of HighByte Intelligence Hub Version 1.0. HighByte Intelligence Hub is the first DataOps solution purpose-built for industrial environments. DataOps is a new approach to data integration and security that aims to improve data quality, reduce time spent preparing data for analysis, and encourage cross-functional collaboration within data-driven organizations. HighByte Intelligence Hub enables Operations Technology (OT) to securely connect, model, and flow valuable industrial data throughout the enterprise, providing the critical data infrastructure for Industry 4.0. Pre-seed funding will fuel the company’s next iteration of product development.
“We are hyper-focused on accelerating digital industry disrupters,” said Ken Forster, Momenta’s Executive Director. “We’re investing in HighByte because we believe the company will help redefine collaboration between OT and IT and bring about the digitalization of traditional operating technology systems. The founders have an intimate knowledge of industrial data from their time at Kepware and have a proven ability to operationalize.”
Angel investors include Corson Ellis, previous Founder and Chairman of Kepware and Brett Austin, previous President of Kepware. Kepware sold to PTC, a Boston-based enterprise software company, in January 2016. All HighByte founders are alumni of Kepware, including Tony Paine who served as CEO of Kepware from 2009-2016.
“HighByte is an exciting addition to our portfolio as it represents a market and solution offering that are well-positioned for significant growth,” said John Burns, Managing Director of Maine Venture Fund. “Innovative technology like HighByte Intelligence Hub will help add high-quality technical jobs to Maine’s workforce and contribute to the state’s evolving economy.”
Complete funding details are available from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Additional Resources
About HighByte
HighByte is an industrial software development company in Portland, Maine building solutions that address the data architecture and security challenges created by Industry 4.0. We’ve developed the first DataOps solution purpose-built to meet the unique requirements of industrial assets, products, and processes at the Edge. Learn more at https://highbyte.com.
About Maine Venture Fund
The Maine Venture Fund is an investment fund that focuses exclusively on promising growth companies. The fund considers Maine-based companies in all stages of their life cycle and in almost all industry sectors that can demonstrate potential for significant growth and public benefit. Learn more at https://maineventurefund.com/.
About Momenta Ventures
Momenta Ventures is the investment arm of Momenta Partners, Digital Industry Growth Partners. With industry-leading Strategic Advisory, Executive Search, and Investment practices, Momenta accelerates the growth of companies in the industrial ecosystem globally since 2012. For more information, visit http://www.momenta.one, join the @MomentaPartners conversation or contact info@momenta.one.
“These are challenging times for our manufacturing community as we start to understand the impact COVID-19 and other global factors will have on safety, productivity, and supply chain,” said HighByte CEO Tony Paine. “This makes it more important than ever to find partners who believe in our team, vision, and ability to execute in order to make industrial transformation a reality for our customers. All of our investors bring more than just cash to the table. They are strategic partners who share in our core values of honesty, commitment, and collaboration.”
To date, HighByte has funded the company through founder contributions and $100K in grants awarded by the aforementioned MTI. In January 2020, the company announced general availability of HighByte Intelligence Hub Version 1.0. HighByte Intelligence Hub is the first DataOps solution purpose-built for industrial environments. DataOps is a new approach to data integration and security that aims to improve data quality, reduce time spent preparing data for analysis, and encourage cross-functional collaboration within data-driven organizations. HighByte Intelligence Hub enables Operations Technology (OT) to securely connect, model, and flow valuable industrial data throughout the enterprise, providing the critical data infrastructure for Industry 4.0. Pre-seed funding will fuel the company’s next iteration of product development.
“We are hyper-focused on accelerating digital industry disrupters,” said Ken Forster, Momenta’s Executive Director. “We’re investing in HighByte because we believe the company will help redefine collaboration between OT and IT and bring about the digitalization of traditional operating technology systems. The founders have an intimate knowledge of industrial data from their time at Kepware and have a proven ability to operationalize.”
Angel investors include Corson Ellis, previous Founder and Chairman of Kepware and Brett Austin, previous President of Kepware. Kepware sold to PTC, a Boston-based enterprise software company, in January 2016. All HighByte founders are alumni of Kepware, including Tony Paine who served as CEO of Kepware from 2009-2016.
“HighByte is an exciting addition to our portfolio as it represents a market and solution offering that are well-positioned for significant growth,” said John Burns, Managing Director of Maine Venture Fund. “Innovative technology like HighByte Intelligence Hub will help add high-quality technical jobs to Maine’s workforce and contribute to the state’s evolving economy.”
Complete funding details are available from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Additional Resources
- Read more about Industrial DataOps
- Learn more about the HighByte founding team
- View all company and product news
About HighByte
HighByte is an industrial software development company in Portland, Maine building solutions that address the data architecture and security challenges created by Industry 4.0. We’ve developed the first DataOps solution purpose-built to meet the unique requirements of industrial assets, products, and processes at the Edge. Learn more at https://highbyte.com.
About Maine Venture Fund
The Maine Venture Fund is an investment fund that focuses exclusively on promising growth companies. The fund considers Maine-based companies in all stages of their life cycle and in almost all industry sectors that can demonstrate potential for significant growth and public benefit. Learn more at https://maineventurefund.com/.
About Momenta Ventures
Momenta Ventures is the investment arm of Momenta Partners, Digital Industry Growth Partners. With industry-leading Strategic Advisory, Executive Search, and Investment practices, Momenta accelerates the growth of companies in the industrial ecosystem globally since 2012. For more information, visit http://www.momenta.one, join the @MomentaPartners conversation or contact info@momenta.one.
