Field service engineers may not be the first group of customers that comes to mind when thinking about the lucrative opportunities of B2B technology. But that same blind spot speaks of space opportunities for people stomping and targeting “work sites.”
XOI, one of the players in that space, will build software for maintenance to quickly access information about the machine being revised, but on Tuesday, XOI will build software to build maintenance software to take photos and quickly access information about the machine being revised. It announced that it has raised a fresh round of $1,000,000 to expand its business.
Xoi grows quickly using that chunk of funds. It is purchasing another company in the space to enhance the dataset, using approximately 85,000 additional model families and further information on related data. XOI integrates that data into existing platforms to provide users with more device-specific instructions and other data, as well as further datasets to predict maintenance, upgrades and other tasks. I’m planning to build it.
Xoi has not made a clear statement about the price it is paying for Specifx or what its own valuation is after the new funds. From what we understand, this agreement has made KKR the majority owner of XOI. We also understand that Specifx prices are less than half of the $230 million listed by KKR. This is XOI’s first acquisition.
This contract is the latest turn and development of a company that has been around since 2010 and has begun life in a slightly different field than today.
Headquartered in Nashville, Xoi was originally called a pair site and then Xoeye (both were featured by TechCrunch for many years). In its incarnation, the company was building hardware. Especially for DIY enthusiasts, the first 3D glasses are connected, and then the field service technician communicates with remote engineers and customer service helpers to get information more remotely in real time, just like the technicians worked on electricity. We are contacting you. Equipment, plumbing, air conditioners, stoves or other machines.
But the hardware was certainly difficult and the business couldn’t flourish. The unit price was too high for the company’s budget-conscious clients, and the form factor was too clumsy when it could withstand the level necessary to stay in one piece on the job site.
“If they looked as cool as his glasses,” CEO and co-founder Aaron Tharrow pointed out his investor, KKR partner Jake Heller, who said, “Maybe it worked.” It’s probably.”
Meanwhile, startups have had the opportunity to create apps that capture all of the same data as glasses, but can be used on phones and tablets that target users are beginning to adopt.
This led to Xoeye dropping the “eye” of “I”. This is what Salow says represents “Intelligence” and the business has taken off.
Companies like XOI and Specifx are commonly referred to as “field service” or “frontline” workers, for those who are not sitting at their desks, or for those facing or out of their customers. It is part of many companies building solutions. Fields working in physical environments. However, what stands out from others in the same space is that many apps focus on certain areas, not other areas.
“Many of them are built to run business, scheduling and dispatch,” Salow said. It’s underserved space. ”
There is no denying that it is difficult to sell data, business intelligence and other unconventional assets to a market that is locked into a very physical job. But as the industry continues to evolve and the machines themselves become more refined, they have drawn more customers to companies like XOI to help engineers get their jobs done.
“This company has a real religion, and we take a ‘lab’, put it on the ground, and put it in the workplace. In this example, it’s really uncomfortable and hard to reach,” Heller said. “The magic of this software is to provide unpleasant people all day long to make the rest of their lives comfortable.”
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