Uptake is an industrial artificial intelligence ( AI) software company. Built around a foundation of

data science Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a br ...

and machine learning, Uptake’s core products include an Asset Performance Management application and a fully managed platform. Uptake’s industry-specific content, including its Asset Strategy Library (ASL), provides guidance on failure prevention. The ASL is the largest in the market today with approximately 800 equipment types, over 58,000 failure modes and over 180,000 reportable conditions. Uptake was founded by Brad Keywell in Chicago, Illinois in 2014.

Business

Uptake was incorporated in 2014 and is located in Chicago, with offices in San Francisco, Houston, Albuquerque, Riyadh, and Mississauga. In March 2015,

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

announced its minority investment in Uptake, with the aim of the joint development of systems to monitor and improve use of the nearly 3 million pieces of Caterpillar equipment in the field. Caterpillar’s core business offerings were completed in mid 2016. On September 21, 2016, Progress Rail formed a strategic partnership, launching EMD Uptime, with Uptake for condition monitoring. On March 2, 2017, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy, an $84 billion portfolio of companies primarily in the renewables space, announced a deal with Uptake. Two of BHE's subsidiaries, BHE Renewables and

MidAmerican Energy Company MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy company based in Des Moines, Iowa. Its service area includes almost two-thirds of Iowa, as well as portions of Illinois, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its territory is wholly encompassed by the territory of ...

, now use Uptake's software to connect and track their fleet of wind turbines. In June 2018, Uptake announced the U.S. Army would be using its software to improve the readiness of a few dozen of its Bradley Fighting Vehicles. In February 2018, Uptake announced the hire of Ganesh Bell, former chief digital officer at General Electric, as President. In June 2019, Uptake announced Ganesh Bell would step down as President. In September 2020, Uptake announced that Kayne Grau would become its President. In October 2021, the company announced Grau would become CEO and that Founder Brad Keywell would become Executive Chairman of the Board.

Financing

On October 27, 2015, Uptake announced that it had raised $45 million in venture capital led by GreatPoint Ventures and existing investors including New Enterprise Associates and

. Uptake’s valuation was estimated to be one billion dollars, making it the third unicorn in the state of Illinois. On February 1, 2017 investor

Revolution Growth Revolution LLC is an American investment firm based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2005 by AOL co-founder Steve Case, after leaving the AOL Time Warner board. The firm seeks to fund entrepreneurs who are transforming legacy industries with innov ...

, a firm started by Steve Case, Donn Davis and Ted Leonsis, announced that they would be backing Uptake with $40 million as part of the

Series C round A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

. This valued Uptake at $2 billion. In November 2017, Uptake closed a Series D round of $117 million at a post-money valuation of $2.3 billion. That brought Uptake's total funding to over $250 million.

References

{{Authority control American companies established in 2014 Companies based in Chicago Cloud computing providers