Startup Vaion Launching End-to-End AI Solution Backed with $20 Million Funding
By Sean Patton, Published Jun 17, 2019, 11:08am EDT
An EU / USA video surveillance startup, Vaion, founded by ex-Cisco Senior Directors is launching an end-to-end VSaaS platform with $20 million in funding.
We spoke with Vaion to understand why they started a surveillance company, their offerings, and go-to-market strategy.
They're going to need a lot more money than $20 million to even have a small impact in the market from zero revenue in my humble opinion.
1. They're going to sell via the traditional market channels against an already very flooded VMS market? That's expensive.
2. Nothing in the product that truly differentiates itself, no card access integration, no thick or mobile client, software and cyber features. What's the end user incentive to make a change?
3. Even if the product was excellent, they are former "CISCO" guys with zero industry experience. CEO, engineering and development are all based in Europe, hardware is ODM from Asia, and they have two sales guys in the US? That's a recipe for communication and support break down, and consistent funding and strategy questions between corporate and the field. Better to target Europe or the Middle East. They will be running in circles internally trying to figure it all out while the CEO questions revenue versus expenses as he answers to a board of investors anxious for their return.
They're going to need a lot more money than $20 million to even have a small impact in the market from zero revenue in my humble opinion.
Agreed but they are starting with $20 million, which means if they show even moderate execution, the next round, next year, will be $40 - $50 million. I don't know how they are going to execute but I would not scoff at starting with $20 million.
answers to a board of investors anxious for their return
At this stage, pro VCs are not looking for 'return' if 'return' you mean the normal usage of the term as in cash or profits. All they need to do is show revenue growth and they will get a lot more money.
They totally could fail, not discounting that, but a lack of money or impatient money will not be the reason.
I have met with the folks at Vaion and have seen their initial test software and cameras and have to admit, I really like what they have going on. The way they handle camera deployment and network management is pure genius and shows their extensive understanding of network environments. Their software is very intuitive and powerful with AI based functionality that makes video searching, retrieval and exporting simple yet effective. Yes, I agree that they will initially be judged for not having integration with other systems or cameras or subsystems, however they just entered the market officially today and do have a well developed API for companies to develop integrations with. I like their go to market strategy and pricing model and can see them impacting the market very quickly. Plus everyone I've met has been very pleasant, excited, helpful, knowledgeable, etc. They promise to not sell to end users direct and do not want to flood the market with tons of resellers. Integration with Lenel, and possibly LPR, facial recognition, etc will solidify my thoughts for sure. I'm in!
Of all the recent startups, this is the only one that has me interested in trying out the product. I haven’t seen anything since the early days of NX that drew me in. I will be interested to see this product develop.
Love what I have seen so far. Their approach to simplistic utilization of the software is based on what the end-users are asking for and not what integrators tell them they should include. After all, it is the end-users that will utilize the system on an ongoing daily basis. I think their approach and their analytics packages and pricing model are more than enough than what it takes to disrupt a percentage of the business. I hope they do really well. Granted, I will still utilize my other VMS lines accordingly but they all have their niche where they can accel and truly fit the customer's needs.
Vaion's pricing is much more expensive than conventional premium Western video surveillance. However, the company tells IPVM that it compares its pricing to Anyvision, Briefcam, and Avigilon.
Unlike Avigilon, Vaion requires purchasing their appliance (no software only) plus annual licensing. The 12TB entry-level unit MSRPs for ~$10,000 total:
Additionally, annually, the MSRP is ~$100 per channel, broke down as follows:
It will be interesting to see how Vaion competes since it certainly is not claiming to offer as many analytics as Anyvision, Briefcam nor Avigilon but is pricing significantly above Avigilon not to mention Genetec, etc. Plus, the refusal to offer industry-norm software-only will be a dealbreaker for many.
John, I've had the chance to talk to the Vaion folks at length many times, and their very strong focus on POCs (it's how they begin each deployment) guarantees that their customers will be satisfied before they commit to buying. What's more, the Vaion folks have worked together previously - something I asked about because of how well they work together. It's my opinion that they have a greater ability to execute consistently well than is usual - especially for a startup. They don't deal in fluff and they don't make stuff up or guess if they don't know the answer. They're straight-shooters. Those traits seem to be a company culture thing.
They also have strong cybersecurity resources through their sister company, Jazz Networks, who won the U.S. Cyber Command competition (an insider threat detection competition) this year. I see parallels between the machine learning and "power search" capabilities of their threat hunting platform, and the machine learning and high performance of Vaion's platform. That's something I haven't had the chance to ask them about yet.
Maybe Vaion is the first company in the physical security industry that has access to high caliber cybersecurity experts. To me that's a big plus, given the cybersecurity lag in this industry.
Given these and other factors, I give them a much better chance than most startups to succeed.
It's my opinion that they have a greater ability to execute consistently well than is usual - especially for a startup.
I agree with that. They have done this before, albeit in other markets so they have shown an ability to avoid the worst mistakes we have seen in the dozens of new entrants we have reviewed in the last few years.
They don't deal in fluff and they don't make stuff up or guess if they don't know the answer. They're straight-shooters.
That has not been my experience with them. Moreover, I think they are making some bad fundamental mistakes such as not supporting software only which will be a deal-breaker with so many accounts. That said, I do think they will learn over time.
I have been testing VAION for the last couple of weeks. So far I am impressed. Really looking forward to the access control integration that is coming.
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Comments (15)
Michael Miller
The object location on maps is a neat feature.
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Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
They're going to need a lot more money than $20 million to even have a small impact in the market from zero revenue in my humble opinion.
1. They're going to sell via the traditional market channels against an already very flooded VMS market? That's expensive.
2. Nothing in the product that truly differentiates itself, no card access integration, no thick or mobile client, software and cyber features. What's the end user incentive to make a change?
3. Even if the product was excellent, they are former "CISCO" guys with zero industry experience. CEO, engineering and development are all based in Europe, hardware is ODM from Asia, and they have two sales guys in the US? That's a recipe for communication and support break down, and consistent funding and strategy questions between corporate and the field. Better to target Europe or the Middle East. They will be running in circles internally trying to figure it all out while the CEO questions revenue versus expenses as he answers to a board of investors anxious for their return.
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Matthew Del Salto
06/17/19 09:00pm
Definitely interesting. Wonder how this play out in 2020. Looks like VSaaS is competitive.
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Patrick Bailey
I have met with the folks at Vaion and have seen their initial test software and cameras and have to admit, I really like what they have going on. The way they handle camera deployment and network management is pure genius and shows their extensive understanding of network environments. Their software is very intuitive and powerful with AI based functionality that makes video searching, retrieval and exporting simple yet effective. Yes, I agree that they will initially be judged for not having integration with other systems or cameras or subsystems, however they just entered the market officially today and do have a well developed API for companies to develop integrations with. I like their go to market strategy and pricing model and can see them impacting the market very quickly. Plus everyone I've met has been very pleasant, excited, helpful, knowledgeable, etc. They promise to not sell to end users direct and do not want to flood the market with tons of resellers. Integration with Lenel, and possibly LPR, facial recognition, etc will solidify my thoughts for sure. I'm in!
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Jon Dillabaugh
06/18/19 11:07am
Of all the recent startups, this is the only one that has me interested in trying out the product. I haven’t seen anything since the early days of NX that drew me in. I will be interested to see this product develop.
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Igor Keel
I'd like to see them come out with more complex analytics, in order to even have a chance at competing.
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John Honovich
Update: Vaion has released a marketing video of their interactive people tracking feature:
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Patrick Bailey
Love what I have seen so far. Their approach to simplistic utilization of the software is based on what the end-users are asking for and not what integrators tell them they should include. After all, it is the end-users that will utilize the system on an ongoing daily basis. I think their approach and their analytics packages and pricing model are more than enough than what it takes to disrupt a percentage of the business. I hope they do really well. Granted, I will still utilize my other VMS lines accordingly but they all have their niche where they can accel and truly fit the customer's needs.
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John Honovich
Update with pricing added:
Vaion's pricing is much more expensive than conventional premium Western video surveillance. However, the company tells IPVM that it compares its pricing to Anyvision, Briefcam, and Avigilon.
Unlike Avigilon, Vaion requires purchasing their appliance (no software only) plus annual licensing. The 12TB entry-level unit MSRPs for ~$10,000 total:
Additionally, annually, the MSRP is ~$100 per channel, broke down as follows:
It will be interesting to see how Vaion competes since it certainly is not claiming to offer as many analytics as Anyvision, Briefcam nor Avigilon but is pricing significantly above Avigilon not to mention Genetec, etc. Plus, the refusal to offer industry-norm software-only will be a dealbreaker for many.
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Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Has anyone got any real-world recent experience with Vaion?
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