Scaling Innovation and Enhancing Workplace Safety

Vernon O'Donnell, CEO

June 6, 2024

With a deep passion for workplace safety and extensive experience in the supply chain and technology sectors, I am excited to lead Voxel through its next phase of growth and innovation.

I am thrilled to be joining the amazing team at Voxel to help guide the company through its next phase of rapid growth and development. The results have been impressive to-date, both commercially and technologically by our application of machine learning to a meaningful real-world problem: worker safety.

Our growth has been impressive to date (~175% annual revenue growth and a ~200% annual increase in customer sites), but there’s so much more potential still in front of us to make people safer. I am joining at this inflection point for hyperscale where we have the potential to make thousands of work sites across hundreds of customers safer via identifying risks and providing a clear view of what actions to take.

I am also passionate about building technology that has practical application in the physical world, and what Voxel does is so unique and powerful in that regard. It's also a deeply personal area. As someone who grew up in the Midwest, many of my extended family-members have worked in the types of environments that Voxel was purpose-built to make safer; and just like so many families, we have also had the experience of a preventable serious workplace injury taking a major toll on a loved one.

In addition to the mission, the Voxel team was a primary reason for this decision. It is the brightest group of technical thinkers I’ve encountered in my career. Having a deeply talented – and very thoughtful – engineering team building the foundation of the company with clear first principles is critical for exponentially scaling an AI-centered machine-learning business like Voxel.

This incredible potential for growth, the profound human impact, and the mission-driven Voxel team are what ultimately led to my joining Voxel.

Growth Potential

The market potential in this industry is enormous. With over 20,000 warehouses in the U.S. alone, the market size for Voxel is well over $1 billion in revenue without even contemplating moving into retail locations, outdoors into ports and temporary work sites, or to other geographies outside of the US. And Voxel is positioned to make a significant impact in those facilities. Workplace injuries cost businesses $170 billion per year (National Safety Council), highlighting the critical need for innovative solutions like ours to help decrease associated cost. And more important than saving money, we have found that use of Voxel at a worksite can decrease injuries by ~20%...at scale, this is potentially tens of thousands of people now experiencing a healthier, safer work environment.

AI for Humankind

As I shared, I’m passionate about technology that improves lives, and Voxel is unique and powerful in this regard. It protects the hardworking people who power our communities and economy, ensuring they go home safely to their families. Voxel's impact is not just technological but deeply human, with companies seeing significant improvements in workplace safety and employee well-being. Our customers have experienced a 98% decrease in vehicle near misses and a 51% decrease in risky ergonomics, leading to fewer injuries and safer work environments. This isn’t an AI that optimizes a click or conversion or creates ethical quandaries about the use of AI-generated voices or images. This human-centered AI continuously learns and refines its performance to make a meaningful impact on people's well-being.

Customer-Centered Team

Customers are the most important aspect of any business, and I’ve been impressed with the team's passion for solving our customers’ challenges. Many Voxelitos have personal connections to those working in dangerous industrial environments, fueling our drive to make a positive difference in the world. The Voxel team embodies empathy and creativity in how we keep our customers' teams safe and drive real business results. And it shows from our results - the company’s Net Dollar Retention is well north of 200%!

The opportunity to join a mission-driven team that has customers with strong conviction in the value of our product, all in a sector that is in dire need of technical advancement made the decision to join Voxel an easy one. And now I’m excited to get to the fun part of joining my fellow Voxelitos making worksites safer and more intelligent every day!