Uptake (business)
{{Short description|Industrial artificial intelligence company in Chicago, IL, US}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Uptake Technologies
| logo = Uptake logo.png
| type = Private
| foundation = {{start date and age|2014}}
| founder = Brad Keywell
| location_city = Chicago, Illinois
| area_served = Worldwide
| num_employees = 250-500
| services = Predictive analytics
| website = {{URL|https://uptake.com}}
}}
Uptake is an industrial artificial intelligence (AI) software company. Built around a foundation of data science and machine learning, Uptake’s core products include an Asset Performance Management application and a fully managed platform.
Uptake’s industry-specific content, including its Asset Strategy Library (ASL),{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/16/machine-learning-firm-uptake-is-acquiring-a-huge-industrial-database.html|title=Tech start-up Uptake makes 'big' acquisition in race to digitize the industrial industry|last=DiChristopher|first=Tom|date=2018-04-16|work=CNBC|access-date=2018-08-13}} provides guidance on failure prevention. The ASL is the largest in the market today with approximately 800 equipment types, over 58,000 failure modes and over 180,000 reportable conditions.
Uptake was founded by Brad Keywell in Chicago, Illinois in 2014.{{cite web |title=Brad Keywell |url=https://bradkeywell.com/ |website=bradkeywell.com |access-date=11 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205190537/https://bradkeywell.com/ |archive-date=December 5, 2022 |language=en |url-status=live}}
Business
Uptake was incorporated in 2014 and is located in Chicago, with offices in San Francisco, Houston, Albuquerque, Riyadh, and Mississauga.
In March 2015, Caterpillar announced its minority investment in Uptake, with the aim of the joint development of systems to monitor and improve use of the nearly 3 million pieces of Caterpillar equipment in the field.{{Cite web|title = Caterpillar partners with Chicago startup Uptake to build data tools - Chicago Business Journal|url = http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/03/06/caterpillar-partners-with-chicago-startup-uptake.html|website = Chicago Business Journal}} Caterpillar’s core business offerings were completed in mid 2016.{{Cite web|title = Uptake Named as Hottest Startup of 2015 by Forbes Magazine|url = http://www.caterpillar.com/en/news/caterpillarNews/innovation/uptake-named-as-hottest-startup-of-2015-by-forbes-magazine.html?sf43624084=1|website = www.caterpillar.com|access-date = 2016-01-11}} On September 21, 2016, Progress Rail formed a strategic partnership, launching EMD Uptime, with Uptake for condition monitoring.{{Cite news|url=http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/locomotives/progress-rail-launches-condition-based-locomotive-analytics.html|title=Progress Rail launches condition-based locomotive analytics|last=Briginshaw|first=David|access-date=2017-03-02|language=en-gb}} On March 2, 2017, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy, an $84 billion portfolio of companies primarily in the renewables space, announced a deal with Uptake.{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2017/03/02/exclusive-berkshire-hathaway-energy-deal-uptake-technologies/|title=Exclusive: Berkshire Hathaway Energy Inks Deal With Startup Uptake Technologies|website=Fortune|access-date=2017-03-02}} Two of BHE's subsidiaries, BHE Renewables and MidAmerican Energy Company, now use Uptake's software to connect and track their fleet of wind turbines.
In June 2018, Uptake announced the U.S. Army would be using its software to improve the readiness of a few dozen of its Bradley Fighting Vehicles.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/army-to-use-artificial-intelligence-to-predict-which-vehicles-will-break-down/2018/06/25/bfa1ef34-789f-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html|title=Army to use artificial intelligence to predict which vehicles will break down|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-08-13}}
In February 2018, Uptake announced the hire of Ganesh Bell, former chief digital officer at General Electric, as President.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-moves-uptake/general-electric-digital-executive-jumps-to-analytics-firm-uptake-idUSKCN1G51RV|title=General Electric digital executive jumps to analytics firm Uptake|last=Scott|first=Alwyn|work=U.S.|access-date=2018-08-13|language=en-US}}
In June 2019, Uptake announced Ganesh Bell would step down as President.
In September 2020, Uptake announced that Kayne Grau would become its President.{{Cite web|title=Uptake Appoints Kayne Grau as President|url=https://www.uptake.com/newsroom/uptake-appoints-kayne-grau-as-president|access-date=2021-10-05|website=Uptake|language=en-US}} In October 2021, the company announced Grau would become CEO and that Founder Brad Keywell would become Executive Chairman of the Board.{{Cite web|title=Uptake Appoints Kayne Grau as CEO|url=https://www.uptake.com/newsroom/uptake-appoints-kayne-grau-as-ceo|access-date=2021-10-05|website=Uptake|language=en-US}}
Financing
On October 27, 2015, Uptake announced that it had raised $45 million in venture capital led by GreatPoint Ventures and existing investors including New Enterprise Associates and Caterpillar.[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/business/dealbook/midwest-start-up-achieves-rare-dollar1-billion-valuation.html "Midwest Start-up Achieves Rare $1 Billion Valuation."] New York Times. October 27, 2015. Uptake’s valuation was estimated to be one billion dollars, making it the third unicorn in the state of Illinois.[http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-uptake-funding-keywell-bsi-1027-story.html "Chicago-Based Uptake Raises $45 Million, Reportedly Hits Unicorn Status."] Chicago Tribune. October 27, 2015. On February 1, 2017 investor Revolution Growth, a firm started by Steve Case, Donn Davis and Ted Leonsis, announced that they would be backing Uptake with $40 million as part of the Series C round.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/revolution-backs-iot-startup-uptake-at-2-billion-valuation-1485952970|title=Revolution Backs IoT Startup Uptake at $2 Billion Valuation|last=Chernova|first=Yuliya|date=2017-02-01|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-03-02|issn=0099-9660}} This valued Uptake at $2 billion.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/revolution-backs-iot-startup-uptake-at-2-billion-valuation-1485952970|title=Revolution Backs IoT Startup Uptake at $2 Billion Valuation|last=Chernova|first=Yuliya|date=2017-02-01|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-03-02|issn=0099-9660}} In November 2017, Uptake closed a Series D round of $117 million at a post-money valuation of $2.3 billion.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uptake-funding/u-s-startup-uptake-valued-at-2-3-billion-in-new-funding-round-idUSKBN1DU1K9|title=U.S. startup Uptake valued at $2.3 billion in new funding round|last=Scott|first=Alwyn|work=U.S.|access-date=2018-08-13|language=en-US}} That brought Uptake's total funding to over $250 million.{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/30/uptake-nabs-117m-at-2-3b-valuation-for-industrial-predictive-analytics/|title=Uptake nabs $117M at $2.3B valuation for industrial predictive analytics|last=Lunden|first=Ingrid|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2017-12-21|language=en}}
References
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Category:American companies established in 2014