goTenna (goTenna Inc.) is a

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

-based

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

that designs and develops

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

mesh networking A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wit ...

technologies for

off-grid Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical gr ...

and

decentralized Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

communications. goTenna devices pair with

smartphones A smartphone is a Mobile device, portable computer device that combines Mobile phone, mobile telephone and Mobile computing, computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities ...

and, through intelligent mobile ad hoc networking

protocols Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

, enable users to send

texts Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory), any object that can be read, including: **Religious text, a writing that a religious tradition considers to be sacred **Text, a verse or passage from scripture used in expository preachin ...

and share locations on a

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

basis, foregoing the need for centralized communications infrastructure of any kind.

History

The idea for goTenna came about after

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds span ...

knocked out 25 percent of

cell towers A cell site, cell tower, or cellular base station is a cellular-enabled mobile device site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a radio mast, tower, or other raised structure) to create a cell, or adja ...

, and caused outages for 25 percent of

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

services, across 10 states on the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a radio station in Co. Wicklow, Ireland * East Coast Swing, a f ...

. Officially incorporated in April 2013, the company's stated goal is to build "people-powered peer-to-peer communication systems" reducing our reliance on cell towers and wifi routers, and providing anyone the ability to create a network on their terms. In 2014, goTenna rolled out its first consumer product, the goTenna, a pocket-size communication tool that lets off-grid travelers talk to one another without cell service. In September 2016, goTenna launched goTenna Plus, a, subscription-based upgrade to the goTenna applications, which includes the capability to use other goTenna users as gateways to relay messages through to traditional SMS networks. The company also released its

software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...

, enabling developers to create new applications using goTenna hardware. However, its license does not permit use with open source

copyleft Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...

licenses. Around the same time, goTenna unveiled a second-generation device: goTenna Mesh, the first consumer-ready

mesh network A mesh network is a local area network topology in which the infrastructure nodes (i.e. bridges, switches, and other infrastructure devices) connect directly, dynamically and non-hierarchically to as many other nodes as possible and cooperate wit ...

of its kind, available to 49 countries.

goTenna Pro

In March 2017, the company announced it
goTenna Pro
line, for

professional mobile radio Professional mobile radio (also known as private mobile radio (PMR) in the UK) are person-to-person two-way radio voice communications systems which use portable, mobile, base station, and dispatch console radios. PMR radio systems are based on ...

communications needs, shifting its focus from consumer tech to filling the needs of public sector clients. To finance its expansion of operations, the company raised $24M in

Series C A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

equity and debt funding in 2019, led by

Founders Fund Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2005, Founders Fund had more than $11 billion in aggregate capital under management as of 2022. The firm invests across all stages and sectors, including aerospace, artificia ...

with participation from

Comcast Ventures Comcast Ventures was a corporate venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. History In early 2011, Comcast and NBCUniversal combined their two venture arms, Comcast Interactive Capital founded in 1999 and the Peacock Fund, ...

and existing investors

Union Square Ventures Union Square Ventures (USV) is an American venture capital firm based in New York City. The firm has backed more than 130 startups, including Twitter, Etsy, Stripe, Coinbase, Zynga, Tumblr, Stack Overflow, Meetup, Kickstarter, MongoDB, Flurr ...

Collaborative Fund Collaborative Fund is a venture capital firm focused on providing seed and early stage funding to technology companies. __TOC__ Firm Founded in 2010 by Craig Shapiro, the firm is based in New York City, New York, and manages approximately $25 ...

, Walden VC, MentorTech, and

Bloomberg Beta Bloomberg Beta is an early stage venture capital firm with $375M under management, capitalized solely by Bloomberg. The fund exists to expand Bloomberg’s horizons by investing in companies built by extraordinary founders that are creating prof ...

. In 2022, goTenna secured a $22.3M funded, $24.9M ceiling SBIR Phase III contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to support the deployment of hardware, training, as well as development to expand the Agent Visualization Program (AVP), a program designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of law enforcement officers by providing comprehensive situational awareness in the border enforcement zone. In February of 2023, goTenna was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract to provide mission-critical communication network monitoring and analysis platform for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

(USAF).

Products

* goTenna Pro X * goTenna Pro X2 * goTenna Pro Deployment Kit * goTenna Pro Deployment Kit 2 * goTenna SDK * TAK * goTenna Pro

App App, Apps or APP may refer to: Computing * Application software * Mobile app, software designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices * Web application or web app, software designed to run inside a web browser * Adjusted Peak Performan ...

* goTenna Mesh Gotennamesh

Awards

* CES Innovation Award 2017: Tech for a Better World * CES Innovation Award 2017: Wireless Accessory *

Industrial Designers Society of America The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is a membership-based not-for-profit organization that promotes the practice and education of industrial design. The organization was formally established in 1965 by the collaborative merger of ...

–

IDEA In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of be ...

2016 Gold *

Edison Awards Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories. Company The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an in ...

Gold – Innovative Services * CES Innovation Award 2015: Tech for a Better World * CES Innovation Award 2015: Wireless Accessory *

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan We ...

2015 Innovation by Design *

Core77 ''Core77'' is an online design magazine dedicated to the practice and produce of the field of industrial design. It serves as a resource for students, practitioners and fans of the field, as well as a venue for essays and reports on the topic of ...

2015 Design Awards * NAVWAR Project Overmatch: Networks Prize Challenge *

AFWERX AFWERX is a United States Air Force program with the goal of fostering a culture of innovation within the service. Encompassing a number of programs supported with relatively small amounts of funding, the initiative is intended to circumvent bure ...

SBIR The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the ...

203-CSO1-Phase I * NSF

Phase I *

Phase II

References

External links

*{{Official website
goTenna Pro official website
Networking hardware companies Radio technology Radio electronics Peer-to-peer Telecommunications companies of the United States Companies based in New York City Companies based in Brooklyn Computer companies of the United States