Televoke

About Televoke

Televoke Inc. was established in December 1998 by founder Rick Bentley. The inspiration for the company came from a personal experience when Bentley's motorcycle was stolen while he was at the University of California, Berkeley, sparking the idea for a consumer-friendly tracking solution. Seizing upon the miniaturization of GPS receivers into single chipsets and the rise of scalable web and telephony systems, Televoke was conceived as a service platform. The business model focused on enabling business partners to offer low-cost tracking and control services across a wide array of markets.

The company's primary offering was a telematics service platform that allowed for the tracking and control of assets. This system was designed for business-to-business (B2B) applications, where Televoke would provide the core technology and service infrastructure, and its partners would bring the final product to market. This approach allowed for broad market penetration without the need for Televoke to build a direct-to-consumer brand. Commercial services were launched in September 2001 with partners such as InterTrak and Omega.

Televoke's journey included significant financial milestones. In January 2000, the company secured approximately $3 million in a Series A financing round from Mobius Venture Capital. This initial funding was critical for completing the development of its service system and securing its first channel partners. A second round of financing followed in February 2001, raising $6.7 million led by WI Harper, and an additional $4 million extension to this round was raised in October 2001, led by Cardinal Venture Capital. These funds were allocated to bring new partners to market and to expand the system's features. According to Rick Bentley's professional bio, Televoke was eventually acquired by Uber.