Why we invested in Shabodi

At CEAS, we’re always looking for revolutionary technologies that will power the businesses of the future. We were lucky enough to meet the Shabodi team and recognize that what they have built has the potential to power next-gen applications on the enhanced network capabilities of 5G, Wifi6, 6G and beyond.

We’re excited to be partnering with Vikram, Harpreet and the whole Shabodi team. CEAS is proud to lead Shabodi’s A round, with longtime telecom veteran and fellow investor in Shabodi- Joe Beatty in our corner as our Board representative. I look forward to my observer role watching the company become the next indispensable software platform in networking middleware.

See funding announcement here.

About Shabodi

With 5G, applications can interact directly with network resources and leverage network capabilities based on runtime requirements instead of blindly depending on pre-configured setups. In order to monetize the private and public 5G deployments, applications need to be built or refactored to leverage the unique network exposure capabilities and the openness of the various elements within the 5G system (RAN, Edge, Core). On top of that, every time network infrastructure is upgraded, developers need to understand the network nuances and proprietary network elements of each equipment provider.

Shabodi’s Application Enablement Platform (AEP) is a simple and effective network layer API, enabling abstraction and orchestration capability. The AEP is a CAPIF-compliant network appliance that exposes network capabilities to developers as Restful APIs. These simple APIs abstract the complexity of underlying 5G network infrastructure while taking full advantage of its capabilities, irrespective of the underlying network carrier or equipment provider for enterprises, system integrators and telcos. As a trusted virtual network element, Shabodi’s AEP can execute a request on behalf of an application function. This provides application developers the ability to control, influence, and manipulate the parameters of a network within the 3GPP specs, through the user and data planes. This enables applications to dynamically (in near real-time) adjust or change QFIs, Network Slices, Traffic Flow, Network Authentication, KPIs, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) management, and more.

Our board representative Joe Beatty says it best:

“5G is far more than a faster version of today’s wireless data network. It supports a fundamental shift in how applications are built. The founders and core team at Shabodi are perfectly experienced for their mission of creating a software platform which allows app developers to very simply create 5G enterprise applications. The wireless carriers and private equipment suppliers are offering the services and gear to build complex, custom networks. Thankfully, Shabodi is building a simplified software platform to control these services and gear, such that enterprise users can create and customize advanced networks quickly and easily.”

Shabodi is actively working on private deployment projects. Great real world examples of what applications built with Shabodi could do include:

• Self-driving vehicle applications will be able to utilize the low-latency improvement and the high-speed that 5G offers to operate efficiently and safely with near real time connectivity. Think also about remotely driven vehicles like mining trucks and surveillance/utility monitoring drones.
• Today, factory robots are all wired…and one can easily imagine how much easier it will be to setup and modify factory floors if the robots can be wireless via 5G.
• Airports prioritizing the upload of airplane black box information on the network over the passenger streaming Netflix in the terminal. This would eliminate the need for direct wire hookup to the plane itself at the gate upon landing.
• Countless other use cases in manufacturing, government, transportation, healthcare, ports & logistics, sports, media, entertainment, energy, oil & gas, financial services, mining, gaming, etc.

Visiting the Shabodi office and meeting the team was an eye-opening experience. After seeing the tech demo in person, it was clear that the passion and attention to detail that the team has incorporated in the development of the AEP platform is next level.

Vikram is a visionary with the grit and drive to bring the team’s vision to reality. Harpreet is a technical genius who has managed to create a sophisticated solution for a highly complex problem. Team Shabodi is comprised of industry experts from Cisco, Juniper Networks, Nortel, GM, GE, West Communications, Macquarie, Lexmark and EY. On top of that, they are all fantastic people.

“Vikram, Harpreet and their super-experienced team at Shabodi have the perfect set of experiences to successfully accomplish their plans at Shabodi. That is, they are communications services experts and know exactly the software platform that enterprise users will need to create high-performing, 5G corporate networks.”

— Joe Beatty

CEAS is looking forward to being a long-term partner to Shabodi alongside co-investors: Blumberg Capital, SineWave Ventures, Counterview Capital, Shasta Ventures, Green Egg Ventures, Maccabee Ventures, 5G Open Innovation Lab, Supernode Ventures, MAVA Ventures, Lorimer Ventures and others.

About Joe

Joe Beatty is a board member and investor at Shabodi. He is also a long-tenured independent board member of CEAS portfolio company FourKites, where he also was COO for nearly a year in its early days. Joe is the former President and CEO of Telular Corporation, a publicly-held provider of wireless IoT solutions (including SkyBitz trailer tracking). Prior to that, Joe was CEO of Concourse Communications Group, a provider of airport wireless systems that was later sold to Boingo Wireless. Prior to that, he was a co-founder and the CFO of Focal Communications, a startup to publicly-held, telecom carrier in competition with the Bell companies. Earlier in his career, he was a securities analyst and held numerous technical management positions for a local telecom services provider.

He has been a board member of several public tech companies and is a recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award from Ernst & Young. Joe holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois; an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.