GPS firm raises $16 million for new device
By Matt Marshall
Mercury News
A Mountain View start-up called Dash has raised $16 million from high-profile investors, including two of Silicon Valley's highest-profile venture firms, to deliver the first navigation device in your car designed to be permanently linked to the Internet.
The company has been working secretly for three years. Its device is significant because leading navigation devices on the market do not have such ``always-on'' connections, said the company's chief executive, Paul Lego.
Dash's global positioning system (GPS) device, by being updated real-time via the Internet, can provide detailed traffic and weather information, and it can let you search for things like nearby restaurants and reviews. It also can be detached for use at home or in other cars.
The company is still secretive, and will first demonstrate its product publicly Sept. 26-27 at the DEMO conference in San Diego. In December, the company received $10 million from two of Silicon Valley's most respected venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
If it doesn't reach an Internet connection, the device will store basic navigation information. It can tap into the Internet via cellular and WiFi networks, where they are available, according to Lego and Robert Acker, Dash's senior vice president of marketing. Both joined the company in December.
Until now, there have been two main categories of navigation devices for cars. The first are devices built by Garmin, TomTom and Magellan, which a car owner can install after buying. The second are the devices already installed by car manufactures. With the latter, the owner has to go to the trouble of getting the device updated by the dealer. After-market devices have shortcomings, too, because they lack always-on Internet streaming, Lego said.
He agreed that in some areas it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the device to work properly. Sand Hill Road, the center of venture capital in Silicon Valley, for example, is notorious for its poor cell coverage.
Dash formerly did business under the name CircumNav.
Mercury News
A Mountain View start-up called Dash has raised $16 million from high-profile investors, including two of Silicon Valley's highest-profile venture firms, to deliver the first navigation device in your car designed to be permanently linked to the Internet.
The company has been working secretly for three years. Its device is significant because leading navigation devices on the market do not have such ``always-on'' connections, said the company's chief executive, Paul Lego.
Dash's global positioning system (GPS) device, by being updated real-time via the Internet, can provide detailed traffic and weather information, and it can let you search for things like nearby restaurants and reviews. It also can be detached for use at home or in other cars.
The company is still secretive, and will first demonstrate its product publicly Sept. 26-27 at the DEMO conference in San Diego. In December, the company received $10 million from two of Silicon Valley's most respected venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
If it doesn't reach an Internet connection, the device will store basic navigation information. It can tap into the Internet via cellular and WiFi networks, where they are available, according to Lego and Robert Acker, Dash's senior vice president of marketing. Both joined the company in December.
Until now, there have been two main categories of navigation devices for cars. The first are devices built by Garmin, TomTom and Magellan, which a car owner can install after buying. The second are the devices already installed by car manufactures. With the latter, the owner has to go to the trouble of getting the device updated by the dealer. After-market devices have shortcomings, too, because they lack always-on Internet streaming, Lego said.
He agreed that in some areas it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the device to work properly. Sand Hill Road, the center of venture capital in Silicon Valley, for example, is notorious for its poor cell coverage.
Dash formerly did business under the name CircumNav.
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