Meeker joins Intercom board

Jay County native Mary Meeker has joined the board of a messaging start-up company after her venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers provided $125 million in funding, Bloomberg reported this week.

Intercom, based in Dublin, Ireland, makes it easier for companies to sell things to customers.

After the latest move by Kleiner Perkins, the start-up is valued at $1.275 billion.

Meeker, a graduate of Jay County High School and DePauw University, has been at the forefront of investment in internet-related companies. Her annual report on trends in the digital world is closely followed internationally.

She will join Intercom’s board as an observer.

Explaining the move by Kleiner Perkins, Meeker told news outlets, “The Internet has changed the way businesses connect with customers. Businesses must increasingly be customer-centric and serve users wherever they are, whenever they want. Intercom enables businesses to have a strong relationship with their customers from first touchpoint to repeat purchase. Its platform unifies customer data and allows sales, marketing, and support teams to have consistently high-quality interactions with the people that use their products.”

Meeker told Bloomberg she was drawn to Intercom over competitors because it works in a broader set of situations and helps users handle customer interactions more consistently.



Networking

This month’s Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast will be at Pennville Community Building on Union Street across from IDC Restaurant.

The breakfast will be at 7:30 a.m. April 11, and will feature an update on the Pennville community. Breakfast is $5 and reservations must be made by April 9.

To make a reservation, call (260) 726-4481 or email [email protected].



Approved

Berne City Council recently approved tax abatement renewals for Key Fasteners and First Bank of Berne. Key Fasteners currently employs 92. First Bank of Berne currently employs 81.



Questioned

Job creation at Union City’s ECO Vehicle Systems plant has been questioned at recent city council meetings there, the Winchester News-Gazette reported.

Union City Mayor Bryan Conklin said he had received several e-mails stating concerns about what is happening at EVS.

The company had expected to employ 200 by the end of 2019, but that target has been questioned.

In a 2017 update, EVS president Rob Lykins said the company is still on track.

“Despite the doubters and the gossip hounds who continue to try to cast doubt on our intentions and slander our name, we are on pace to meet or exceed our job creation numbers by the end of 2019 and hold up our end of the deal like we always have,” Lykins told the city.



Pollinating?

Walmart has filed a patent for autonomous robot bees called pollination drones, which can help to pollinate crops, CNET reported this week.

Walmart also filed five other patents for additional farming drones, including one drone that tracks down plant pests, and another that monitors the ongoing health of various crops.

With bee populations in decline, a number of drone or robot replacements have been in development. Harvard researchers introduced the first RoboBees in 2013, CNET said. And in 2017, an industrial design student at Georgia's Savannah College of Art and Design created Plan Bee — a drone controlled by a smart device that artificially pollinates flowers.