Holmdel-Based Avlino Leverages State Resources to Become Leader in Big Data Solutions
TRENTON, N.J. (January 12, 2017) – As the number of businesses storing information in the cloud skyrockets, and access to analytical data is becoming more critical, companies like Holmdel-based Avlino, Inc. find themselves in growing demand.
“Avlino was established with a mission to simplify data analytics for businesses of all sizes by tying together all the intricacies of the data analytics process into one comprehensive, easy-to-use, interactive platform,” Avlino Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramana Jampala said.
Avlino’s innovative analytics platform, Alenza, brought Jampala’s vision of the “Citizen Data Scientist” to fruition, in that any business can now play with its data to generate insights – without having a PhD in computer science and math. This is possible by Avlino’s complete automation of the process of data collection, analytics, and visualization. The platform’s inbuilt text analytics automatically summarize and visualize consumer behavior, while the predictive models quantify the business impact of the insights generated. Among its many components, Alenza offers advanced social media learning features such as customer-experience measurement, digital influencer analysis and customer demographic analysis.
Avlino was founded in 2013 by a team with over 100 years of collective experience and has quickly gained national recognition for its capabilities. Avlino was named to CIOReview Magazine’s Top 100 Big Data Solutions Providers of 2015.
“With support from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), we’ve been able to expand from a small startup to a leader in big data solutions,” Jampala said.
Avlino has benefited from multiple EDA programs designed to support emerging technology companies at all stages of growth. At its earliest stage, Avlino participated in the EDA’s inaugural New Jersey Founders & Funders event. Hosted at the EDA’s Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies, New Jersey Founders & Funders events introduce entrepreneurs to investors in 10-minute one-on-one “speed dating” match ups, paving the way for emerging companies to attain the funding they need to grow in the state. As it grew, Avlino secured funding from investors who participated in the State’s Angel Investor Tax Credit Program, and was approved to sell unused New Jersey net operating losses and research and development (R&D) tax credits through the New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer (NOL) Program. This current fiscal year marks the first time that Avlino is participating in the NOL Program.
“Entrepreneurs and companies that know how to leverage resources, find a niche in the marketplace, and position themselves within that realm, are the businesses that will ultimately be successful,” EDA CEO Melissa Orsen said. “We are excited to see what the future holds for Avlino as they continue to grow in New Jersey.”
@NJEDATech asked Jampala about his company’s experience in New Jersey and its plans for the future:
Why did you choose to grow your company here in New Jersey?
New Jersey is home to some of the most-groundbreaking technological innovations in history and Holmdel was a hotspot for entrepreneurial talent. As both an investor and an entrepreneur, I have invested in numerous New Jersey-based companies and am committed to supporting the high-tech community in the Garden State. There is a tremendous amount of talent remaining from the Bell Labs days and many entrepreneurs are emerging from the top-notch universities in the tri-state area, who are ready to be part of startups and be an active part of the growth engine.
In addition, many large organizations are headquartered in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The demand among these organizations to incorporate a big data analytics strategy is increasing and many of them are just a drive away from our corporate headquarters, so in-person meetings and networking events are easy to plan and to attend.
How have EDA programs helped Avlino?
The EDA offers several relevant programs that help startups like Avlino grow and thrive in New Jersey. The New Jersey Founders & Funders event exposed Avlino to several investment groups that resulted in follow-on conversations. We have established ongoing relationships with several venture capital firms and angel investor groups, whose feedback and expertise have proven useful throughout our start-up journey. As Avlino progresses through many milestones, we can rekindle many of these relationships for future investments. The Angel Investor Tax Credit program helped Avlino to incentivize Angel and Angel Investor syndicate groups to invest by presenting the program as a way to mitigate their risk in investing by 10 percent. We introduced the program in our pitch decks, explaining the tax credit and how easy it is to apply.
However, the EDA resource from which Avlino Inc. has benefited the most was the NOL Program, which allowed Avlino to sell back its net-operating losses and R&D tax credits to profitable companies. Under this program, Avlino was able to reinvest those dollars back into product development and staff augmentation, ALL of which are New Jersey-based employees.
What’s on the horizon for Avlino?
Avlino is on the cusp of exponential growth. As the market demand for the concept of “citizen data scientists” grows, the Alenza solution fills the gap in data analytics. In 2017 and 2018, Avlino will offer Alenza platform-based tailored data analytics solutions to consumer centric industries in retail, hospitality, consumer goods, financial services, and healthcare. Rolling out these solutions to diverse industries will require numerous key hires in data science, big data programming, and business analysis, and Avlino is looking forward to growing its team in New Jersey!
