An Alabama startup that supplies virtual experience software to home repair surgeons and technicians closed an $8 million Serie A that fueled, in part, the Covid-19 pandemic.
Help Lightning, based in Birmingham, announced Thursday that it has closed an $8 million investment through Baltimore’s Resolve Growth Partners. Fundraising has accelerated enormously through the Covid-19 pandemic, said Gary York, CEO of Help Lightning. Help Lightning has experienced an “extraordinary increase in demand” because technicians, for example, should no longer physically move to places where their experience is required.
Use more until about 535% between February and June alone.
“Before the pandemic, [this] market was already developing at 70% year-on-year according to some analysts, and we’re developing faster than that,” York said. “So we had a wonderful year in 2019, and the first two months of 2020 were good. Then the pandemic hit and things took off.”
The Help Lightning concept focuses on a concept called ‘merged reality’. The generation allows two real-time perspectives from two separate devices and merges them into a single live stream. An expert can put his or her hands in the vision box and interact practically with the other person’s environment to show you how to solve a problem. Experts can freeze an image, draw on the screen, or zoom in on collaboratively.
Help Lightning stated that its solution accelerates diagnosis and challenge resolution and allows experts to visually determine that the repair has been performed; it also removes the limits of a non-unusual phone call or video conversation. The startup has more than 50,000 users in 90 countries, adding primary consumers such as Siemens, Cox Communications, Pfizer, Cannon and more.
Cox, the third largest cable provider in the country, signed a deal with Help Lightning in March, “just as it hit the pandemic,” York said. Historically, its technicians have gone to a customer’s house to install the Internet, connect a modem or configure WiFi, but the company has stopped this practice due to the possible spread of the virus. Help Lightning virtual experience software has helped fill this gap.
“This interactive virtual presence is literally the most productive thing you can do to be physically there,” York said. “Before the pandemic, we’d say, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could teleport him to the experts, and the experts could be by his side, solve the problem, then teleport and ready? ‘Obviously, with Covid and with the spread of the virus, other people really prefer the virtual presence. In the next five to 10 years, we deserve to see a strong expansion in this market. “
The Serie A budget will be used to accentuate sales and marketing efforts to meet growing demand. York stated that there are many foreign opportunities ahead; The construction of this visitor base will also be a component of the investment.
In general, York expects business to slow down even when some states reopen. The pandemic has just raised the company’s profile a little faster than expected.
“Help Lightning has a great opportunity to boost the good fortune of this emerging market,” Jit Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Resolve, said in a statement. “After comparing the virtual experience software market for over a year, [it’s] transparent that Help Lightning has developed a highly differentiated solution.”
A freelance journalist in Cincinnati, I covered everything from aviation to entrepreneurship. I love hearing how big corporations and start-ups in the Midwest
A freelance journalist in Cincinnati, I covered everything from aviation to entrepreneurship. I love hearing how big corporations and midwest start-ups are working to make the world a bigger place.