Cogniance

Cogniance, Inc.
Industry Technology, Design
Founded Menlo Park, CA, USA (2008 (2008))
Founder Juha Christensen
Headquarters Menlo Park, CA, USA
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Juha Christensen[Founder, Chairman],
Michael Shraybman [CEO],
Marty McFarland [CFO],
Sergii Gorpynich [CTO],
Carter Perez [VP Worldwide Sales],
Travis Bochenek [MD Strategic Growth, US East Coast],
Navid Ostadian-Binai [MD Strategic Growth, EMEA]
Services End-to-end technology product development: strategy, design, engineering, launch and evolution of software and hardware products
Number of employees
 500 (October 2014)
Website www.cogniance.com

Cogniance is a global strategy and technology company, headquartered in Menlo Park, CA, working with venture-backed startups, corporate innovation labs and venture capital firms in the world's technology hubs. Its services combine branding, user experience and engineering to help innovators bring products to market.

History

Cogniance is founded (2008) and built up by the former founders, directors, technical managers from Sonopia, a product startup. Sonopia enabled people and organizations to set up their own carrier network.[1][2] The technical solution was well-proven, but it was not a commercial success, due to the fact that it was a few years ahead of its time; US carrier companies were not open to such solutions back in 2007.[3][4] Despite the fact that Sonopia was not a commercial success, the company ended up with a technical team they believed to be world-class.[5] In May 2008, the founder of Sonopia, Juha Christensen, a venture capitalist and a serial entrepreneur, turned this team into a software and design consultancy with a special focus on venture-backed startups and corporate innovation labs. Christensen previously held top corporate executive positions, e.g. at Microsoft (Corporate VP, Mobile) and Macromedia (President). He co-founded CloudMade, Sunstone Capital and Symbian, and he has been board member at VirtualLogix, Teleca, Brandworkz, Buttonwood Financial, Pelican Imaging, Fairgain, CTIA, Unwire and Trolltech.[6][7] Juha Christensen is voted one of the 25 most influential Europeans in Technology by Time Magazine.[8]

Locations and Expansion

Cogniance's CEO, Michael Shraybman, oversees the company's operations from Menlo Park, CA. In June 2013, Cogniance announced it had hired the Silicon Valley veteran CFO, Marty McFarland.[9]

The office in Kyiv, Ukraine, is Cogniance's development and design center. It is the fastest growing site and employs approximately 280 people (July 2013). Cogniance claims to hire only the top 10 percent of talent[5]

In March 2012, Cogniance expanded to cover the US East Coast market by adding Travis Bochenek in Boston, Massachusetts.[10]

Since 2010, Cogniance has been present in the UK on and off. In October 2012, Cogniance relaunched its UK office in London led by Navid Ostadian-Binai who had relocated from Copenhagen, Denmark.[11][12][13][14]

In February 2014, Cogniance established a design centre in Aarhus, Denmark, led by design veteran Kristian Krøyer, who joined the company as a Creative Director.

In January 2015, the company established its second development site in Wroclaw, Poland.

In February 2015, a new design studio was set up in Munich, Germany.

Industries and Technologies

Cogniance's horizontal capabilities include Mobile, Web, Cloud & Big Data, and Embedded. As for vertical domains, the company claims to exhibit special expertise in the following: Advertising, Automotive, Health & fitness, Media & Communications, Consumer & Social, and Enterprise.

Notable Clients and Work

The company's founding client was CloudMade, which changed name from ZXV Ltd. Cloudmade was founded by Steve Coast after receiving a round of funding from Nikolaj Nyholm and Sunstone Capital. Juha Christensen was brought into CloudMade as Chairman and CEO. A later funding round of $12.3 million included Greylock Partners in addition to Sunstone Capital.[15] CloudMade's products evolve around monitization in location-based services and gaming. In November 2012, CloudMade spun off a separate entity called Zigi, targeting developers in China, with the first campaign featuring promotions from nearby McDonald's restaurants while playing Angry Birds, a game developed by Rovio Entertainment.[16]

Other notable clients include Swisscom, Libratone, Dolby, MobileIron, Swype (acquired by Nuance Communications), Mediafly, Sportstream (acquired by Facebook), Expensify, Netpulse, Huawei, Magellan GPS, Vocera, Jibe Mobile, Tweddle Group (acquired by Nuance Communications), Devicescape, Xtime (acquired by Cox Automotive).

Awards

Jibe Mobile, a Cogniance client, won the Mobile Merit Awards 2012.[17][18]

At the PPA Digital Publishing Awards 2012, Cogniance client, Shipping Guides, was awarded Highly Commended IT Development Team of the Year. This award was directly relevant to Cogniance since it is responsible for development of Shipping Guides' digital products.[11]

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2013, three Cogniance clients were nominated for Global Mobile Awards, and MobileIron won "Best Enterprise Mobile Service".[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Build Your Own Third Rate Mobile Network". TechCrunch. April 2, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  2. ↑ "With Sonopia, you too can be a Telecom mogul". VentureBeat. April 1, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sonopia Follows Amp'd Into The Deadpool". TechCrunch. April 8, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Say Goodbye To Sonopia: Another 'Virtual' Carrier Dies". BusinessInsider. April 8, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Cogniance, helping early-stage companies turn great ideas into even greater products". Cogniance. July 7, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Cogniance - Board of Directors". Cogniance. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Juha Christensen". LinkedIn. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ "CrunchBase profile - Juha Christensen". CrunchBase. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Cogniance Appoints Veteran CFO Marty McFarland". CNBC. June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Development outsourcing firm Cogniance expanding to Boston". Boston Business Journal. August 1, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  11. 1 2 "FindaportCD highly commended at Digital Publishing Awards". Shipping Guides. September 27, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  12. ↑ "VentureBeat Profile - Navid Ostadian-Binai". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  13. ↑ "CrunchBase Profile - Navid Ostadian-Binai". CrunchBase. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  14. ↑ "4 Reasons European Tech Hubs Are In Desperate Need For A-Talent". LinkedIn. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Collaborative Mapping Startup CloudMade Lands $12.3 Million From Greylock". TechCrunch. July 27, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Zigi". Zigi. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  17. ↑ "With Jibe, developers can now create incredible mobile experiences". Cogniance. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Mobile Merit Awards - 2012 Winners". Mobile Merit Awards. Retrieved July 13, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Global Mobile Awards - 2013 Winners". Mobile World Congress. Retrieved July 13, 2013.

External links

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