Vaavud

Vaavud, a company founded in 2012 by Thomas Helms, Andreas Okholm, and David Bruton, initially carved a niche in the consumer electronics market by developing hardware for smartphones to measure wind speed. The co-founders brought a blend of expertise to the venture; Helms had a background in business and strategy from his time at Boston Consulting Group, Okholm was an industrial designer and mechanical engineer, and Bruton specialized in aerodynamics and software development. This diverse skill set enabled the development of their first product, the Mjolnir, a small, durable wind meter that plugged into a smartphone's headphone jack. This was followed by the Sleipnir model, which added wind direction measurement capabilities.

The business model centered on selling these physical devices to a wide range of consumers, including sailors, kitesurfers, and other outdoor enthusiasts who required accurate, portable wind measurement tools. The accompanying mobile application not only displayed the data but also crowdsourced it, creating a real-time, user-generated weather map. Vaavud successfully raised capital through a Kickstarter campaign, which validated early market interest, and later secured seed funding from investors like Danish seed fund SEED Capital.

Over time, the company pivoted its strategy to focus more on the data aspect of its operations, leveraging the vast amount of wind data collected from its users worldwide. This shift signaled a move from a purely hardware-based business to a data and analytics company, aiming to provide valuable wind data to industries such as wind energy, insurance, and agriculture. However, by late 2018, the company ceased operations. The online shop closed, and the apps were no longer available for download, marking the end of its journey in the consumer electronics and weather data market.

Keywords: wind measurement, hardware, smartphone accessory, weather data, crowdsourcing, consumer electronics, outdoor recreation, wind energy, data analytics, Kickstarter