Veniam was a technology startup focused on building large WiFi mesh networks using moving vehicles like city buses or taxis. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and was founded in 2012, receiving 4.9 million dollars in 2014 in a funding round from True Ventures, USV, and Cane Investments. Veniam's technology is being used in Porto's city buses, with about 230,000 users with onboard units (OBUs) installed on over 600 buses, taxis, and garbage trucks.
They aim to equip vehicles with wireless hotspots, creating a mesh that could be used to build sensors to turn the city smarter. Each vehicle is equipped with a NetRider, a multi-network unit with Wi-Fi (802.11p), DSRC, GPS, and 4G/LTE connectivity. Veniam was acquired by Nexar in 2022.
Veniam was founded by João Barros, its CEO, Roy Russell, former Zipcar CTO, Susana Sargento, a professor at the University of Aveiro, and Robin Chase, former CEO of Zipcar and Buzzcar. The initial behind Veniam was to pioneer large-scale Wi-Fi mesh networks that utilize moving vehicles, for a dynamic connectivity infrastructure for the Internet of Moving Things (IoMT). This vision aimed to transform urban transport into a shared network capable of collecting data, real-time communication, and smart city applications by harnessing the collective movement of fleets.
In its formative years, Veniam worked with prototypes and test pilots in Porto, deploying Wi-Fi-enabled systems on public buses operated by the local transit authority STCP to demonstrate data collection and connectivity. These initial trials, launched around 2014, involved equipping over 400 buses to form a mobile mesh network linked to the city's optical fiber backbone, allowing passengers to access free WIFI while gathering urban data for applications like traffic monitoring. The pilots validated the technology's potential for scalable IoMT deployment in dense urban settings.
Veniam Platform