Road-Guard, an Israeli start-up, was ranked as first runner up in Nokia’s Global LBS Challenge in Asia. The competition was put by NAVTEQ and concluded three weeks ago. The challenge invited Location Based Services (LBS) to submit their cutting-edge location-aware wireless applications. A few hours before the iPhone3G hits the stores in the US, timing couldn’t be any better.
Road-Guard’s CEO Alex Ackerman informed me that his company was picked out of 120 contestants and 12 finalists, scooping a nice prize of $157,500. Road-Guard provides eco-driving and driver safety solutions through three platforms: mobile phones, personal navigation devices, or embedded in cruise-control systems.
The reason for the award at the LBS Challenge was Road-Guard’s flagship product, GreenDrive™. The pre-commercial smart eco-driving solution improves driving safety and leads to significant fuel saving (10-25%) and contribute to a cleaner environment.
Another Israeli company in the space of safe driving is GreenRoad Technologies, who recently raised a round $14.5 million from Virgin Green Fund and Benchmark Capital. Judging by the number of startups who applied to the LBS Challenge and the new opportunities created by the GPS features in smart phones such as the iPhone 3G, I predict a few more Israeli appearances in the green-driving vertical.
I'm a former general partner at google ventures, head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe and founding head of Campus London, Google's first physical hub for startups.
I'm also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit bringing together the startup ecosystem on cycling challenges in support of Room to Read. Since inception in 2012 we've built 11 schools and 50 libraries in the developing world.
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