Pentalabbs invests in Bluefox in IT for Equity mode along with Panasonic and other US investors

For Pentalabbs, June equals to a Californian summer with our new IT for Equity investment in Bluefox, San Francisco-based startup specializing in people detection in physical places, real-time data analysis and engagement solutions.

Located in Silicon Valley, at the core of the Plug and Play incubator, the Bluefox startup has developed a technology that senses people’s smartphones in a defined space without requesting them to download an app or log in. In his turn, the B2B client equipped with the Bluefox box can access various statistics on his clients without even knowing their identity. This allows to know how many persons are present in a defined space (public spaces, shops, supermarkets, at home, etc.) and their exact location. The Bluefox technology also allows to assign a cookie to each smartphone, thus associating a phone with a purchase and to have accurate statistics on consumption and shopper loyalty to a given brand.

There are, of course, countless verticals of this technology and many use opportunities still wait to be tested. However, the startup’s technology solution has already proved its worth since various important international brands and stores are now using Bluefox. We can mention here Airbnb, for which a specific product, PartySquasher, has been developed. The startup has reached competition podiums from Asia to the United States, receiving this summer the “Startup of the year 2016” award from the San Francisco French American Chamber of Commerce.

Pentalabbs present during Bluefox’s Seed & Series A rounds

A simple Seed investor in February, we soon turned into their Series A lead investor by strongly pursuing our IT for Equity investment model.
Panasonic is the new investor having joined us, also as a lead investor, for this financing round of several million dollars. For Guillaume, CEO of BlueFox, all lights are green: “Pentalog and Pentalabbs were there when we needed them the most and I would like to warmly thank them for their support.”

This last operation is by far the most significant one until now, 2 to 3 times higher than our usual operations. Our specific investment model, as well as our strategic and financial consulting capacity have once again aroused the interest of both European and US startups, which validate them. The complementarity of investors is a variable that no startup can neglect. And in this field, Bluefox sets the tone.

Making available an IT power

In order to support Bluefox’s technology delivery, we have provided the US startup with a Pentalog team of savvy IT engineers working, since the seed phase, on high-level technology mainly used in the retail vertical.

And since we are, first of all, partners, we are also promoting their technology solution. In Romania, for example, we have presented their solution numerous times in the retail industry. We also find new leads for Bluefox in England. We are ready to continue our promotion campaign in other European countries as well.