TEL AVIV, Israel, April 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Windward, a maritime data and analytics company, today announced
a strategic investment of $10.8
million led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from
Series A investor, Aleph, and other leading investors in the
financial community. This strategic investment will accelerate
Windward's ability to build the largest, most comprehensive
maritime data and analytics platform in history. In addition, it
will make those insights accessible for anyone with stakes at sea,
with a solution for the financial sector scheduled to launch later
in 2015.
"Ship activity across the oceans fuels the global economy but is
one of the last analog arenas. The Windward team is revolutionizing
this archaic system and bringing visibility to this critically
important domain, advancing the global ecosystem," said
Jason Wong of Horizons Ventures.
Windward's intelligence solution, MARINT, is already in wide use
by Security, Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies worldwide,
who use Windward's data and insights to preemptively identify
threats before they reach their shores. The funding by Horizons
Ventures, Aleph and other financial investors will enable Windward
to expand its deep learning capabilities via its unique data
platform - the Windward Mind - and to operationalize FORESEA, its
finance solution. Currently, FORESEA is in beta testing as the
first significant vertical extension of the Windward Mind and is
providing traders, investors and analysts with access to
unprecedented amounts of unstructured data, critical insights and
untapped market opportunities.
"The Windward Mind, the world's first maritime data platform,
brings cross-vertical and industry visibility into ship activity
worldwide that is critical given the economics at stake," said
Ami Daniel, co-Founder and CEO of
Windward. "We are honored to have Horizons Ventures join our
journey. Horizons has a unique perspective as a seasoned investor
in some of the world's most disruptive tech companies; their
involvement will provide us with many valuable opportunities for
innovating this analog world."
In addition to funding support, Windward will be adding top
advisors to its boards. A member of Horizons will be joining
Windward's Board of Directors. Additional investors include
Tom Glocer, the former CEO of
Thomson Reuters, who will also be joining Windward's Advisory Board
and bringing his invaluable perspective from a world leader in
delivering information to decision makers in professional markets.
Ret. Lieutenant General Gabi
Ashkenazi, the former IDF Chief of Staff and former CEO of
the Israeli Ministry of Defense, is also joining Windward's
Advisory Board, with a depth of understanding of the security
domain. In addition, Danielle Ullner
has joined Windward as Chief Operating Officer. Ullner is the
former VP of Strategic Partnerships at Perion, and will focus on
deepening partnerships and access across the shipping and ports
ecosystem.
"Windward is a game changer because it is bringing a data
sciences perspective to today's maritime data and making it
accessible and relevant for the entire ecosystem," commented
Glocer. "Financial institutions, the next market for Windward's
unique data platform, are hungry for advanced data
solutions that can provide valuable trading opportunities by
extracting faint trading signals from noisy datasets such as
maritime information."
About Windward
Windward is a maritime data and analytics company, bringing
unprecedented visibility to the maritime domain. Windward has built
the world's first maritime data platform, the Windward Mind, which
analyzes and organizes the world's maritime data. The Windward Mind
makes the data accessible and actionable across verticals, from
flagging criminal threats at sea to identifying new market trading
opportunities. Windward's data and insights are in wide use by
Intelligence, Security and Law Enforcement agencies worldwide.
Windward is now bringing the same unique data and insights to the
world of Finance, giving traders, investors and analysts access to
a gold mine of untapped market opportunities.
For more information, go to http://www.windward.eu/
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