The News: Owl Labs, the Boston based start-up and creator of the Meeting Owl hybrid meeting solutions, recently announced a $25 million Series C investment led by HP Tech Ventures. In addition to the funding, a strategic partnership with HP was also announced. In a show of strength between the two companies, Angelo Del Priore, Partner at HP Tech Ventures, was appointed to the Owl Lab’s board of directors. With this latest round of funding, Owl Labs looks poised to continue growing market presence across both start-ups and the enterprise. Read the full Press Release from Owl Labs.
Owl Labs Raises $25 million in Series C Funding Led by HP Tech Ventures
Analyst Take: The announcement of Owl Labs’ Series C funding shows the power of disruption within the unified communications market. While the cost of money rises, and venture capital sits on the sidelines, it’s been difficult to raise this fall. Raising funds during this period of economic instability is another indicator that hybrid work technologies will remain strong through the global recession. The partnership with HP, which recently acquired Poly earlier this year, shows the commitment across the industry to AI based, immersive camera technologies for hybrid work.
Earlier this year our team at Wainhouse had the opportunity to test the Meeting Owl Pro, the Meeting Owl 3, and the proprietary Owl Connect technology. Enabled through Owl Labs’ Intelligence System, the AI-based 360° camera technology is well-suited for framing faces around a table and within a meeting space. During testing, over-the-air video meshing, referred to as Owl Connect, stood out as a real differentiator among competitors, as most still require cabling to achieve multi-stream capabilities. With proprietary IP in both AI camera software and over-the-air video transmission, it makes sense that HP would be interested in the Boston-based outfit.
In addition to HP Tech Ventures investment, Owl Labs’ Series C was funded by Matrix Partners, Spark Capital, and Playground Global. The funding supports expanded product development across the portfolio, including Meeting Owl, Whiteboard Owl and Meeting HQ. In addition, the partnership with HP begins with HP France, where Owl Labs’ solutions will be launched using local HP sales teams. This strategy will accelerate Owl Labs’ go to market motions and expand international presence.
Disclosure: Wainhouse Research, part of The Futurum Group family of companies, is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Wainhouse Research as a whole.
Other insights from Futurum Research:
ScreenBeam and MAXHUB Announce Technology Alliance to Deliver Seamless Hybrid Meeting Experiences
Launch of Zoom Mesh Reveals Some Basic Truths in the Enterprise Streaming Market
Image Credit: Owl Lab
The original version of this article was first published on Wainhouse Research.
Author Information
Daniel Root's expertise is digital workplace and workforce communications technologies and services.
