1. What does White Raven do and what product/service do you sell?

So we are a visual positioning software company which means that we build software to solve localization and orientation challenges using a camera. For example, lets say im using GPS and the accuracy is not that great, you can use the camera to fix where you are and where you need to go. Our goal is to make vehicle navigation more accurate and more contextual and eventually more automated.

2.When did you start developing an interest for this industry and what motivated you to make a product or service for this industry?

We have been working on this for the past two years, more or less and most of our motivation and inspiration comes from aerospace actually. There are advanced navigation and display systems for pilots that have used augmented reality and VR for some time and with the knowledge we have in that space, we thought this would be a good idea to bring this product to a “street level”

3. What was the search process for investors like?

As an early stage company, we are always after investors and we are always looking for customers, which is truly a never ending process. The shift changes between financing and market fit and this can be challenging with an early stage company because you always want to prove your company is viable. So the way we do it is we use our network here in Israel in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, or Western Europe to get our partners, investors, and customers to keep our business running.

4. How was the experience of being financed by a Venture Capital?

In this line of business, it goes without saying that venture finance is almost always imperative when it comes to starting a company and successfully running it to maturity. Venture financing behaves differently within different market conditions for example it could be more liquid or less liquid. We are now at a time where capital is moving towards more mature companies, so the early stagers have a lot of time to prove themselves to big investors. A lot of the support has been through marketing work and having our investors market us successfully

5. What kind of support do they offer to you and your business?

In our casse and experience, it is mostly about networking in the relevant ecosystem, so we mainly are involved in the startup community and the venture finance community that are mainly either from Tel Aviv or Silicon Valley. More so now we are looking for investors in the business community who are willing to offer us support with the business aspects of things, especially in Europe. As of right now we have been working with microfunds and more family business style investors and have gained a lot of network support from them

6. What advice would you give to someone who has a startup or a small company that is looking to grow their business financially?

I would say it is very important to look at market trends and follow the markets in different countries often because they are always changing. Be practical and try to figure out and manage the risks of whether or not certain decisions are practical or not. There is lots of wishful thinking when it comes to running a small business and this is a risk that any company has to look out for. It’s also all about putting yourself out there and making sure your customers understand what you are doing yet also listening to their concerns and what is wanted in the market.

The BizPlace Team