A fast-growing software service provider for brand manufacturers has moved to a larger headquarters at the Irvine Spectrum as it preps a product launch.
Pricespider’s nearly 17,000-square-foot office at 20 Pacifica more than doubles its previous space nearby and could support about 100 workers.
The company, which employs about 80 in Irvine, provides software subscriptions steeped in data reports, including information on where customers’ products are sold and the prices, and whether resellers adhere to minimum-advertised-price thresholds.
“Manufacturers want to know how their pricing stacks up against competitors,” said Chief Executive and co-founder Anthony Ferry.
Its technology endlessly scours the web, culling buying and selling insights from around the world. The company has diversified from its core business offerings to include a where-to-buy service, market intelligence reports, and ratings and reviews.
Pricespider is approaching 500 brands under management, including Samsung, Sony, LG, Canon, Maytag and Bosch.
It projects revenue will hit $17 million this year, up from $12 million in 2016. Next-year sales are projected to be at least $26 million, according to Ferry, who credits the gains to expanding offerings in other segments, such as hardware, apparel and groceries.
“We have some very significant packaged goods clients that have furnished our most recent growth,” Ferry said. “Sky’s the limit. There’s no industry we don’t touch.”
Pricespider is in a pilot program with two large companies utilizing a developing brand-monitoring product that gauges consumer behavior and purchasing based on several targeted variables, such as online image changes and inventory availability.
“It’s a very hot button right now for manufacturers, especially with the timing of the holidays coming up,” Ferry said.
The company was spun out of Ferry’s Irvine consultancy, Neudesic, in 2006 and hasn’t taken outside money.
Pricespider made some missteps in its early days chasing the hype of comparison shopping sites “until we got tired of the Google dance” and the rapidly changing dynamic of search engine optimization, Ferry said.
The company is planning an expansion beyond California for a customer-support call center and development outfit, Kansas City, Mo. emerging as a top destination.
“That would allow us to stay in this space a little longer,” Ferry said.
Freer Freeway
Santa Ana-based Iteris Inc. is in the midst of a $5.5 million contract for the I-405 improvement project for one of the busiest freeway segments in the nation, located in the heart of Orange County.
The company is responsible for the freeway intelligent transportation systems and express lane infrastructure design, the traffic management plan, and signal design at 42 intersections throughout the corridor. The intelligent transportation system and express lanes include changeable message signs, closed-circuit video cameras, vehicle detection, ramp metering, and communication networks.
The I-405 project, whose budget is $1.9 billion, is the largest undertaken by the Orange County Transportation Authority in cooperation with Caltrans. It will add four lanes, two general purpose and two toll express. The project stretches from the 73 toll road to the 605 freeway.
Iteris began its portion of the project for infrastructure design in March and anticipates concluding next year.
By 2040, rush-hour travel on regular lanes of the 16-mile stretch will take only 29 minutes, according to an OCTA study. The commute could be shortened to 13 minutes by taking the express lanes. OCTA estimates that without the work it would take two hours and 13 minutes to travel the same stretch in regular lanes and two hours in carpool lanes.
Iteris posted revenue of nearly $96 million in the 12 months through March, the end of its fiscal year, up 23.4% over a year earlier. Its shares are up 88% year-to-date. The company is expanding its business model from providing primarily transportation data to selling agriculture and weather insights.
Universal Recognition
Count Santa Ana-based Universal Electronics Inc. an early winner in the awards season.
The world’s largest universal remote control maker was the recipient of a 2017 Technology & Engineering Achievement Emmy Award from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for its voice navigation technologies used to search and interact with TV content.
The company will receive the award in April at the 69th annual Technology & Engineering Achievement Emmy Awards ceremony held in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas. UEI will share the award with Comcast, Apple TV, and Nuance Dragon TV for their contributions to voice-control technologies.
Universal is diversifying its business, growing Internet of Things offerings through a $9 million May asset purchase from Residential Control Systems Inc., marketing the energy monitoring, thermostat, sensor products and related services under the RCS brand.
Universal posted sales of $651.3 million last year.
