Fore!
Irvine-based smart technology provider Greenwave Systems Inc. is trying to mitigate some of the circumstances that cause errant shots on the links through a partnership with the maker of the first wearable golf tracker.
San Francisco-based Game Golf will utilize Greenwave’s AXON software and hardware product to analyze gobs of data in real time to improve shot performance on the course through insights such as measured distance to the hole and club tendencies, taking personal handicaps into account.
Game Golf’s shot-tracking platform, which melds GPS and player data through sensors worn on a belt and screwed into golf clubs, has mapped more than 33,000 courses in 136 countries. Players have uploaded more than 1.5 million rounds, capturing data on some 135 million golf shots.
The combined offering, which is like a virtual caddy of sorts, retails for about $150 directly through Game Golf’s website and several golf-focused online retailers.
“We generate all your stats relevant to your round of golf,” said Game Golf founder John McGuire.
Product users include PGA Tour players Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Lee Westwood and Chesson Hadley.
Game Golf’s app is used by about 200,000 golfers around the world. Greenwave, which has relied on utility customers since its establishment in 2008, is expanding into new market segments.
“We evaluated guys doing active sports,” said Greenwave founder and Chief Executive Martin Manniche. “They had the biggest installed base in the market.”
The deal marks Greenwave’s first foray into sports.
The company posted revenue of $52.4 million in the 12 months through June, up 100% from two years earlier. The percentage jump placed Greenwave at No. 24 among midsized companies—those between $10 million and $100 million in annual sales—on last year’s Business Journal list of the fastest-growing private companies.
The Business Journal has reported that the company is exploring an initial public offering.
Wall Street Roster
Irvine-based Alteryx Inc. has attracted an impressive list of company watchers on Wall Street.
The analytics software maker’s roster of analysts include its IPO underwriters, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, and book managers KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., William Blair & Company LLC., Raymond James & Associates Inc., and Cowen and Company LLC.
The company raised $145 million in a March 24 IPO, snapping a nearly two-year drought in OC.
Glaukos Corp., a Laguna Hills medical technology company, in June 2015 raised about $188 million. The last tech-related IPO was in December 2013 when Irvine-based Kofax Ltd. raised $11 million after years on the London Stock Exchange.
Alteryx, which had a recent market cap of $875 million, will report first-quarter results on May 10.
Cinema Software
Irvine-based Paragon Software Group Inc. will supply Mac storage and connectivity services for Cinematiq, a San Francisco digital cinema software maker.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cinematiq will embed Paragon’s ExtFS for Mac products in its software, enabling protected, stored data and high performance playback and recording of full HD video content, including 4K, according to the licensing agreement.
Paragon was OC’s 39th largest software maker last year with 16 employees. It has annual sales of more than $15 million.
