Rapid Insight, a software company headquartered in Conway, N.H., has hired a prominent Portland tech executive as its new CEO and opened an office in Portland.
Brett Austin, former president of Portland-based Kepware Technologies, took over as CEO of Rapid Insight in October, according to a news release.
Rapid Insight builds data analytics software, which it markets under the Veera name, which allows customers to build predictive models and perform advanced data analysis. Current verticals it serves include higher ed and healthcare.
This week, the company announced it has opened an office in Portland and is actively hiring for positions in sales, marketing, data analysis, and software development. The office is located at 120 Exchange St. in the city’s Old Port neighborhood.
Austin, who was born and raised in Maine but has spent significant amounts of time living and working in major tech hubs such as Seattle and Boston, said he chose to open an office in Portland because of the city’s track record of supporting software companies, such as Kepware, as they scale.
“Portland has a special mix of creativity, ingenuity, authenticity, and quality of life that creates the perfect environment to build a growing, sustainable, and socially-responsible technology company,” Austin said. “Portland also offers access to top-notch technical and business-oriented talent.”
As president of Kepware, Austin helped navigate the company through its acquisition by PTC Inc. in January 2016 for $100 million. He maintained a leadership role in the new organization to help with the integration of the companies until November 2017. Since then, he’s become active in angel investing; he’s a member of Investors’ Circle, the world’s largest early-stage impact investing network. He is also an active member of Founders Pledge, a group of entrepreneurs and investors who have committed to donate at least 2% of personal proceeds to charitable causes.
In his new role at Rapid Insight, Austin will primarily focus on go-to-market functions such as marketing, sales, customer success, and business development.
“We plan to expand our vertical market focus beyond higher education into other industries where our analytics software portfolio has the potential to bring value to new customers,” said Austin. “We will invest in our employees, our tools, and our infrastructure in order to scale globally and to perform at the highest level.”
