BlueRidge.AI announced today that it has closed a $1.9 million seed funding led by DataTribe, a global cyber foundry that creates and co-builds next-generation cybersecurity and data science companies.
BlueRidge.AI is integrating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), machine learning (ML) to predict and prevent costly unplanned downtimes with minimal IT integration. The company was founded by Lloyd Clark, previously a strategic AI leader at NSA with a proven track record of bringing artificial intelligence and machine learning to software-defined networks. He brings the real-world experience and expertise needed to make smart manufacturing simple.
The DataTribe funding will accelerate time to market by expanding BlueRidge’s world-class engineering team and sales organization.
“This investment in BlueRidge AI shows the unique talent from the intelligence community applying their expertise to solve commercial problems,” said Mike Janke, DataTribe co-founder and CEO. “Lloyd and his team have developed a technology that is literally 3 to 4 generations ahead of the current technology landscape. It is a huge overlooked problem they are solving. The DataTribe team is excited to co-build with Lloyd and his team and make smart manufacturing a reality for all.”
The IIoT market is global and dominated by legacy industries with huge sunk-cost investments. Innovation with agile, smart IoT technology offers an alternative to building automated plants from scratch. Much of the critical equipment have long lead times, meaning the costs of unscheduled outages can be huge.
According to Aberdeen Research, 82 percent of manufacturers have experienced unplanned downtime over the past three years and that unplanned downtime can cost a company as much as $260,000 an hour.
“BlueRidge has solved several long-standing problems within the industrial environment including reduction of technicians while still providing alerts, predictive analysis of motor problems and quick software updates focusing on customer desired enhancements,” said Mick Hatley, the former State Director of Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA) and owner of Electric Motor & Repair Inc in South Carolina.
BlueRidge’s sensors and AI are already in action with select Fortune 500 manufacturers and heavy industrial companies. The sensors blew away the March 2019 EASA trade show in Myrtle Beach, SC, with its proprietary IoT multisensor on operating industrial motors, feeding snappy dashboard GUIs and data collection for AI processing.
“BlueRidge.AI operates with a laser-focus application of AI solutions that solve the dull, dirty, and dangerous challenges for our growing industrial customer base,” said BlueRidge AI founder, Lloyd Clark, “Our AI delivers actionable Machine Learning and Deep Learning recommendations by combining advanced IIoT multi sensor devices with decades of motor expertise. We are eliminating costly unplanned downtime with the vision of modernizing manufacturing by training AI models using decades of service data, including known failure modes. It’s smart manufacturing made simple.”
About Blue Ridge
BlueRidge is integrating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), machine learning (ML), and predictive analytics to help organizations maximize uptime, product quality and worker safety. We combine decades of industrial, motor & control expertise with cutting edge technology solutions which enable our customers to transform their operations to stay globally competitive. We do this by embracing new disruptive technologies such as ML, AI and IoT and apply them to help our customers solve old problems in new ways. For more information, please visit: http://www.blueridge.ai
About DataTribe
DataTribe is a cybersecurity and data science startup foundry that invests and co-builds the next generation of commercial technology. The firm draws upon experienced technical and entrepreneurial teams from the world's most prestigious, high-stakes environments, including the international intelligence community and National Labs from U.S, Canada, UK and Australia. DataTribe is headquartered in Fulton, MD with offices in San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit: https://datatribe.com/
