Enplug

Enplug, Inc.
Private
Industry Software
Founded May 2012, Culver City, California
Founder David Zhu, Nanxi Liu, Navdeep Reddy, Zach Spitulski, Alex Ross
Headquarters Culver City, California, U.S.
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Nanxi Liu
Products Digital signage
Website www.enplug.com

Enplug is an American technology company headquartered in Culver City, California that offers software for digital displays, allowing real-time social media interaction between brands and users. The company is a software licensing business.[1]

As of 2014, Enplug had displays in hundreds of businesses in forty cities.[1]

History

Enplug is part of the emerging Los Angeles startup community, dubbed "Silicon Beach"[2]

Enplug is a graduate of StartEngine, founded by Howard Marks, in September 2012.[3]

Funding

In April, 2014, Enplug raised $2.5 million through seed funding, which came from a number of investors, such as Larry Keele, co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management; Rasoul Oskouy, founding member of Juniper Networks; Bill Gross, founder of Idealab; Hossein Eslambolchi, former President and CTO at AT&T; David Cohen, Executive Vice President at Interscope Records; Justin Caldbeck, Managing Director at Lightspeed Venture Partners; Troy Carter, CEO at Atom Factory; Activision co-founder Howard Marks; Amidi Group, DominateFund, and zPark Venture.[1]

Product

Enplug's social media displays allow end-users to interact with brands in real-time through their existing social media accounts. Enplug displays support multiple social media apps, including Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, and Instagram using a business's custom hashtag.[1][4]

Enplug's software is flexible, where it isn't limited to its own use, and allows customers to customize by installing apps created by third-party developers. The company generated a SDK, where developers can create and sell apps.[1]

The displays also act as advertising space for partners. Content can be deployed by advertisers, to a screen of their choice.[3]

Enplug is a SaaS platform, where business owners pay to access its software on a monthly basis.[5]

Culture

Enplug has received press coverage in relation to their company culture. As of last year, 12 of the 37 employees lived and worked out of a six-bedroom, three-bathroom Ranch-style house in Bel Air, California.[6]

For most employees, the company pays for "food, rent, and utilities."[7]

The Wall Street Journal wrote of Enplug's culture in an article about the company: "Employees and managers meet, work, eat, clean, exercise and sleep in the same space. And while there are occasional uncomfortable moments, such as nudging your boss to do the dishes, companies like Enplug say it is good for professional relationships, saves on rent and travel costs and is often just plain fun."[6]

Forbes reported that the purpose of living together was for the employees to "blur the lifestyle divide" between work and living.[2]

The culture is very important to Enplug. CEO Nanxi Liu stated, “I actually think the company would have failed if we didn’t live together."[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lawler, Ryan. "Digital Display Startup Enplug Raises $2.5 Million Seed Round". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smith, Samantha. "LA Startup Goes from 0 to 100mph In Three Months". Forbes. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Carney, Michael. "StartEngine’s Summer 2012 Demo Day Was Its Best Yet". Pando. Pando Daily. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Shamout, Omar. "Enplug Nabs $2.5 Million in Seed Funding". Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Carney, Michael. "Enplug drags digital signage into the social era, raising $2.5M and landing Porsche and Coffee Bean as clients". Pando. Pando Daily. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Silverman, Rachel. "House Party: Working and Living at the Office". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bell, Lisa. "The Startup Slumber Party: How Living With Your Cofounders Can Save Your Company". Retrieved 22 May 2014.