SATELLITE-enabled connectivity scale-up R3-IoT has announced the latest stage in its development with three major leadership hires to its Executive Team, a series of further senior hires and promotions, and brand-new office space in Glasgow City Centre as it gears up for commercial and international expansion in 2022.
R3-IoT, which utilises satellite infrastructure to provide businesses with continuous, accurate data from remote locations, secured seed investment of £3.1m in summer 2021 and was announced as an Innovation Partner Winner at the 2021 OneWeb Innovation Challenge. The company is on track to commercialise and establish global operations in 2022.
The newly unveiled Executive Team comprises internationally experienced figures spanning operations; human resources, marketing and sales, who will drive business development in international markets while continuing to grow an already rapidly expanding team.
Sarah McLaughlin joins the executive team as Vice President of Marketing where she will lead the marketing and communications team in driving the next stage of the company’s growth ambitions, focusing on elevating R3-IoT’s global brand, market growth and increasing revenue. She brings more than 15 years’ industry experience spanning brands such as PwC, Tesco Bank, National Australia Bank, and Glasgow Caledonian University. McLaughlin, a leading advocate in addressing the gender gap in the tech industry, was recently appointed Chair of the Gender Diversity Workstream of Scotland’s Digital Economy Skills Group.
Dave Falkingham joins as Vice President of Sales to lead R3-IoT’s global sales and business development team as the company gears up for commercial launch. He will also focus on North American market entry and securing new partnerships and alliances for the business. Falkingham was formerly Chief Revenue Officer at award-winning software-as-a-service company Shepherd and brings more than 25 years’ global sales experience, including successfully leading sales to achieve revenues in excess of $100M across Northern Europe while at software business Dassault Systèmes.
Meanwhile, Evelyn Walker has been appointed as Vice President of Operations to support the company scale up as it eyes future Series A funding, focusing on operational performance, process improvement and risk management. Walker has more than 25 years’ experience in helping businesses across industries scale up and is a Director of Council for the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, representing start-ups, scale-ups and small and medium sized enterprises (SME). As an award-winning business mentor, she also sits on the First Minister’s Advisory Group for Women and Girls.
The new Executive Team hires are part of wider talent growth within the company, which has more than doubled its workforce in the past 12 months across its engineering, marketing, operations and sales functions, from 11 to 24.
Allan Cannon, CEO and Co-Founder of R3-IoT, said, “We’re rapidly reaching the next level in our mission to digitise the planet, and these additions are the right leaders at the right time as we ramp up operations in the coming months.
“Evelyn, Dave and Sarah have proven track records of delivering significant successes across their respective fields. As we look to develop our technology, expand internationally and attract further investment, we will benefit hugely from having their experience and insight on board.
“Our purpose-designed premises also represents another big step in the company’s journey. A custom-built lab and open, inclusive layout has been set out with innovation and collaboration in mind and will not only help us build on our offering, but also continue to attract the biggest talents in the industry.”
