ThingTrax Appoints New CEO, Paul Reader, and Non-Executive Director, Frank Doorenbosch
- After raising $1m earlier this year, ThingTrax, a provider of smart technology solutions for the manufacturing industry, has attracted B2B technology veteran Paul Reader to scale the business as CEO
- ThingTrax is already working with factories across the world to turn them into smart manufacturing hubs
- Frank Doorenbosch, Former CEO of RPC BPI Group (where he was a ThingTrax customer) joins ThingTrax as Non-Executive Director
ThingTrax, a provider of smart technology solutions for the manufacturing industry, has announced the appointment of B2B technology specialist Paul Reader as CEO, and that Frank Doorenbosch, former CEO of RPC BPI Group as a Non Executive Director (NED). ThingTrax enables manufacturers to turn unconnected factories into smart manufacturing hubs.
Using a combination of cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and most recently computer vision, ThingTrax connects machines, workers, and robotics to optimise manufacturing operations. The solution connects factories end-to-end to make them safer, more efficient, and for management to make data supported decisions. Its plug and play devices can be fitted by factory engineers in less than an hour and then immediately connected to its Smart Manufacturing Platform.
Founded in 2015 by Aman Gupta and Imran Shafqat, with extensive technical expertise from their previous work at IBM and Microsoft, ThingTrax has already had an impressive year. In June the company announced a $1M seed round led by SuperSeed, and expanded its offering in response to the impact Covid-19 had on customers. Iterating on its Connected Workers solution to allow manufacturers to operate in-line with evolving Government regulations in response to the virus. ThingTrax is already working with factories across plastics, automotive, FMCG, medical, and packaging around the world.
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In order to scale ThingTrax further, Paul Reader has been appointed CEO, with Co-Founder’s Aman Gupta taking the position of Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Imran Shafqat as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Mads Jensen, Managing Partner at Superseed, and investor in ThingTrax, commented:
“ThingTrax is in a unique position to offer manufacturers of all shapes and sizes the opportunity to digitalise, without the burden of time or a huge amount of investment. Its plug and play model means manufacturers can make incremental changes on the factory floor quickly and see a return on investment fast. Aman and Imran have built a hugely successful product, and we’re delighted to have Paul join as CEO to scale ThingTrax. Frank, who has been a ThingTrax customer, advocate, and an investor, is another leading industry figure whose expertise will be incredibly valuable as NED.”
Paul Reader joins the team with over 20 years experience building tech businesses. He grew up in Canada in a family that founded its own multinational manufacturing business. Following University he started his career as a productivity consultant for a manufacturer in Ontario before spending 10 years in agencies that helped develop and implement growth strategies for tech firms. For the past decade he has worked to build and scale B2B technology firms including Eloqua, acquired by Oracle in 2012, where he went on to build the Marketing Cloud by integrating the acquisition of $7 Billion worth of B2B tech startups.
Most recently, Paul led the commercialisation of AI-spin out Mind Foundry, from the University of Oxford.
Paul Reader, newly appointed CEO of ThingTrax, commented:
“I am thrilled to join ThingTrax. The manufacturing sector is ripe for digital transformation and the practical application of new industry 4.0 technology is key. But, right now for many manufacturers it's too complicated, costly and takes too long which is holding back innovation. ThingTrax has proven technology that enables us to take a new approach to attract unconnected manufacturers to embark on this journey in a simple, step-by-step and affordable way. I look forward to building ThingTrax and carving out a new category in the Industry 4.0 space that will make a major positive impact on the sector and its business leaders.”
Frank is a manufacturing industry heavyweight with over 30 years experience. Having been a customer initially, he selected and adopted ThingTrax in favour of large well-known enterprise players at RPC, now got involved personally as an investor and has been appointed NED, offering his vast manufacturing expertise and strategic vision, to grow the venture.
Frank Doorenbosch, NED of ThingTrax, added:
“I got involved because I recognise the massive potential for data supported manufacturing businesses. I have led initiatives to digitise and modernise factories and was attracted to ThingTrax as a fast, nimble, adaptable, and affordable solution, willing to partner with customers to implement an operational solution in days without huge expenditures or long systems integrations. As a buyer of ThingTrax, I really liked that they would partner with me to rapidly tailor their solution around the needs of my business. Now as an investor and Director of ThingTrax, I look forward to making our ambitious strategic vision a reality and helping other group-level executives see the value in their solution.”
ThingTrax was part of the Startup Bootcamp IoT accelerator run by Cisco and University College London. ThingTrax is a preferred partner for Microsoft and an official AI partner in the Edge Solution category for Intel. The team of 20 is headquartered in London.
For more information go to www.thingtrax.com
