Resolutely European French Riviera start-ups
Keeneo and Ubinode, two start-ups supported by the Paca-Est Incubator have just announced that they have been acquired, in the case of Keeneo and merged, in the case of Ubinode, by and with European businesses.
Supported by Paca-Est Incubator since March 2010, Ubinode has just announced its merger with German company, GreenCom Networks.Founded by three ex-employees of Accenture and in cooperation with the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis I3S laboratory, Ubinode develops products enabling the deployment and administration of extensive sensor networks.Based in Munich, GreenCom Networks offers solutions for different stakeholders in the energy value chain. GCN solutions enable improved integration of generation and storage facilities as well as better knowledge and management of the low-voltage part of the electricity network.The newly-formed alliance will be capable of responding to the challenges introduced by new business models centered around the management of distributed energy and make its innovative offer available throughout the European market.With the creation of GreenCom Networks France, all research and development activities will still be based at Sophia Antipolis.The start-up has taken up premises at the CICA and plans to take on five engineers between now and the end of the first half of 2012.A spin-off of Inria under the Paca-Est Incubator umbrella in 2005, Keeneo is specialised in intelligent video surveillance.Keeneo solutions enable real-time detection of human intrusion and other predefined activities or incidents in a targeted 3D area or zone. The technology is based on a patented ‘4D’ solution that can adapt its surveillance intelligently to manage adverse environmental effects, such as changing light or weather conditions.Specialized in home security and defense, Digital Barriers did not previously possess a video analytics solution.Buying the Sophia Antipolis start-up thus adds a string to its bow: ”Video analytics capabilities are becoming an increasingly important element of the market, given the ever-increasing scale and complexity of surveillance platforms and the data they must handle.”Acquired at the beginning of August, the company will retain its operational base at the Sophia Antipolis technology park and may even strengthen its Research & Development teams.
