Open Garden, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryMobile virtual network operator
FoundedSan Francisco, California (2011 (2011))
Founder
Headquarters
Miami[1]
,
Florida[1]
ServiceseSIM-based prepaid mobile roaming data sales[2]
Number of employees
1[1]
Websiteopengarden.com

Open Garden, Inc. is an American mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) based in Miami, Florida, that sells eSIM-based prepaid mobile data subscriptions.

History

Open Garden, Inc. was co-founded in 2011 by businessman Micha Benoliel, Internet architect Stanislav Shalunov, software developer Greg Hazel and systems architect Taylor Ongaro, in San Francisco, California in the United States.[3][4]

Products

Between 2011 and 2015, Open Garden developed software of the same name, a proprietary internet community-based connection sharing software application[5][6] that shared Internet access with other devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. When the person whose Internet connection was being shared left the network, the application automatically detected and connected to the next best available connection.[7]

After raising $2 million seed money from a group of angel investors in September 2012,[8] Open Garden started developing and incorporating roll out multi-hop connectivity and channel bonding into their application.[9] The new funding was led by Allan Green, an early investor in Phone.com and Mobileway, David Ulevitch, then CEO of OpenDNS, Derek Parham, creator of Google Apps for Business, and Digital Garage, which also invested in Twitter and Path.[10] The application was free for download for Android and macOS, and at that time, Open Garden planned a freemium business model, with paid features like VPN access for business users.[11]

Awards and recognitions

Open Garden and its product were introduced on October 11, 2011 at the Android Open 2011, where they won the Startup Showcase Award.[12] On May 26, 2012, Open Garden won the Most Innovative Startup Award at the TechCrunch Disrupt Conference 2012.[13] Toward the end of Conference, one of the judges, venture capitalist Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures, said that Open Garden was his favorite all along, stating that what the company does is the most worthy of the conference name - Disrupt.[14] The following year, on October 23, 2013, Open Garden won the G-Startup Award at the Global Mobile Innovator's Conference.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Morgenstern, Zev (15 March 2021). "Corporation Statement of Information". California Secretary of State. California Secretary of State.
  2. ↑ "eSIM 101". Open Garden. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  3. ↑ Frederic Lardinois (May 21, 2012). "Open Garden Lets You Crowdsource Your Mobile Connectivity". Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Narayanan, Chitra (15 February 2015). "Open Garden's FireChat app can be a mobile megaphone". Business Today India. Retrieved 24 January 2022. Open Garden's founders: Micha Benoliel, systems architect Taylor Ongaro (who has since left the company), Internet architect Stanislav Shalunov, and software developer Greg Hazel.
  5. ↑ "Open Garden App Lets You Share Mobile Internet Access (VIDEO)". www.huffingtonpost.com. 11 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Open Garden Lets You Crowdsource Your Mobile Connectivity". techcrunch.com. 21 May 2012.
  7. ↑ Natasha Baker (June 11, 2012). "New app allows sharing of mobile Internet access". Reuters. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  8. ↑ Angel.co. "Angel list - Open Garden". Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Frederic Lardinois (September 12, 2012). "Open Garden, A TechCrunch Disrupt NY Battlefield Finalist, Raises $2M Seed Round". Techcrunch. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Ryan Kim (September 12, 2012). "Open Garden raises $2M to create crowdsourced mesh networks". Gigaom. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Nancy Owano (June 5, 2012). "Open Garden plants app for open network". phys.org. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  12. ↑ "AndroidOpen 2011 – Open Garden – Startup showcase winner". October 11, 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  13. ↑ opengarden.net. "Open Garden LAUNCHES at TechCrunch DISRUPT NYC 2012 — Wins Most Innovative Startup Award". Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  14. ↑ Olga Kharif (June 21, 2012). "Micha Benoliel's Open Garden". Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  15. ↑ opengarden.net. "Open Garden Wins the Global Mobile Innovator's G-Startup Competition". Retrieved 13 January 2013.
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