Earlier this year, Ornicept pivoted its business plan. As the year went by the downtown Ann Arbor-based startup has expanded that plan further.
The 1-year-old firm got its start developing bird monitoring technology for the likes of airports and wind turbine operators. It then shifted to creating a software platform that helps wildlife biologists collect and manage data. Now it does that and helps people do the same for infrastructure inspectors.
"We focus on the way people collect data,' says Justin Otani, co-founder of
Ornicept. "The way people collect data for wildlife and infrastructure is very similar."
That software platform, GeoTraverse, is currently Beta testing with two large multi-national corporations that are serving as development partners. The paid pilot projects are expected to wrap up late this year and begin commercial sales in early 2014.
To make that happen, Ornicept has had to expand its team. It has hired eight people this year and now employs a team of 11 employees at
Ann Arbor SPARK's Central Incubator in downtown Ann Arbor. Those new jobs include hires of software developers and business development professionals.
"Our current growth is pretty exciting as we continue to add more talent to the Ann Arbor area," says Russell Conard, co-founder of Ornicept.
Source: Russell Conard & Justin Otani, co-founders of Ornicept
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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