Highfive is an American

video conferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

company which combines

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...

-based

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

with its proprietary in-room video conferencing hardware. The company, established in 2012 by former Google employee Shan Sinha, has its headquarters in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

. In 2016, ''Fortune'' named Highfive on its list of the "10 Best Small Workplaces in Technology.". In September 2020, Highfive is acquired b
Dialpad

History

Highfive was founded in 2012 by Shan Sinha and Jeremy Roy. Sinha, who was one of the developers of

Google Drive Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addi ...

, noticed while working for Google that there was a very high demand for videoconferencing, with tens of thousands of video calls regularly made. He left Google to found Highfive, believing that the market leader,

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

, was not “secure or robust enough for business needs.” Sinha’s vision for Highfive is to “make videoconferencing as commonplace as e-mail in business.” After it was established, the company worked in stealth mode as Parlay Labs from 2012 until Highfive’s launch in October, 2014. In March, 2015 Highfive announced that they had raised over $45 million in total

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

. Investors in the firm include

General Catalyst Partners A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

Google Ventures GV is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides Seed investment, seed, Venture capital financing, venture, and Growth investing, growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Venture ...

Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen ...

Drew Houston Andrew W. Houston (; born March 4, 1983) is an American Internet entrepreneur, and the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. According to ''Forbes'', his net worth is about $2.2 billion. Houston held 24.4 percent v ...

Aaron Levie Aaron Winsor Levie (born December 27, 1984) (pronounced ) is an American entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of the enterprise cloud company Box. Early life and education Aaron Levie was born to a Jewish family from Mercer Island, Washi ...

, Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com) and Shishir Mehrotra (YouTube). In March, 2016 the company announced a 341% growth in customers during 2015 and that it had surpassed the milestone of one million call minutes per week from over 1400 customers. In an interview with

Jim Cramer James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of ''Mad Money'' on CNBC and an anchor on ''Squawk on the Street''. A former hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer ...

, Sinha commented on the market success: "We are seeing some really big secular trends happening that are causing people to be more comfortable with video. The new workforce is all at an age now that they grew up with video.” In May, Highfive announced that they had incorporated telephone conferencing service Dolby Voice into its services.

Services

Highfive’s software is

cloud-based Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multip ...

and linked to its in-room

device. Its applications work on personal computers, iPhone, iPad or Android devices, and require little time to set up.

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

technology enables calls to be initiated on a mobile device or tablet and then beamed onto a large TV screen, which the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' likened to “an Apple TV with a 1080p HD camera and a microphone with a 30-foot range attached.” ‘’Entrepreneur’’ wrote of the product: “Each device delivers HD video and high-fidelity audio. Installation is easy and straightforward. The interface is intuitive. There are no extra cables or wires; instead, each user downloads a special extension for the Google Chrome web browser, which allows the system to share screens wirelessly from the main interface onto individual employees’ laptops or smartphones.” Sinha stated in a March, 2015 interview with

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

that video conference equipment market leaders such as

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

Polycom Poly, formerly Polycom, a part of HP Inc., is an American multinational corporation that develops video, voice and content collaboration and communication technology. Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman and Jeffrey Rodman. In 2018 ...

and

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

have wealthier, IT savvy customers who are the "only ones who can afford the complexity and the cost of those systems, which are entirely too hard to use.” He argues that Highfive is unique because it offers a product of comparable quality and better functionality, available for businesses of all sizes, in any room, at 1/20 of the cost. Philipp Karcher, a senior analyst with

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

based Forrester Research concurred that Highfive’s strength lies in it accessibility to smaller firms and its relatively lower cost. A Polycom-sponsored study conducted by Wainhouse Research found that Highfive was "going after a market of about 30 million to 50 million meeting rooms." Known clients include Mimeo.com,

Warby Parker Warby Parker is an American online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Warby Parker was founded as primarily online retailer, but now sells primarily (about 90%) through approximately 160 p ...

Shutterfly Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided im ...

Evernote Evernote is a note-taking and task management application. It is developed by the Evernote Corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. It is intended for archiving and creating notes in which photos, audio and saved web content can ...

, Patagonia, Slack, and Zenefits. ''Fortune'' states that in June, 2016 Highfive now faces competition from Logitech, Lifesize, Huawei, and ZTE in targeting smaller firms with video conferencing services.

Surveys

Highfive has become known for its surveys into workforce habits. In September, 2015 Highfive commissioned a poll, in which they surveyed 1200 office employees on distractions during the workday. In June, 2016 the company, in conjunction with Zogby Analytics, conducted a video conferencing survey which found that nearly half of the 800 respondents found video conferencing unsettling due to being conscious of their appearance on camera.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.highfive.com Web conferencing Teleconferencing

History

Services

Surveys

See also

References

External links