Velocity11



Velocity11 is a laboratory automation and robotics company founded in 1999 and based in Menlo Park, CA. The company designs and builds a range of products designed to handle microplates.

Company History
Velocity11 was founded in 1999 in Palo Alto, CA by four engineers working together in Incyte Pharmaceutical's Corporate Technology Development group. These four pulled together a team from employees at Incyte, Stanford grads and other alumni connections. The company was originally based in Palo Alto near the Fry's Electronics off of Portage and El Camino in a tiny warehouse,.

Velocity11's initial product line was first displayed at the LabAutomation show in 2000, in Palm Springs, CA. It managed to get a single, small booth space in a far corner of the conference hall, but the speed and flexibility of the main platform attracted attention from all attendees. Not before long, genomics and pharmaceutical companies around the United States took notice and began to order many of the fledgling company's products, including the flagship BioCel product.

Over the years, Velocity11's customer base grew significantly; 2004 proved to be an interesting time, when the Mayfield Fund decided to invest in the small company (then < 80 employees). The capital allowed Velocity11 to expand more rapidly; once the lease on the old warehouse expired, the company relocated to its current facility in Menlo Park, CA

In 2006, Velocity11 became the premiere sponsor for the LabAutomation show, and continued its sponsorship in 2007.

Velocity11 continues to provide high quality instruments and automated platforms to its customers, and provides unparalleled customer support.

The Name
There are three different stories as to where the name came from.


 * On Earth, the escape velocity of an object is roughly 11 km/s. The founders had to escape Incyte, and they made fast equipment, so the 11 symbolized their need to escape Incyte with a certain amount of momentum, while "Velocity" was meant to convey that they were a fast-moving dynamic company that makes speedy automation solutions.
 * There were 11 original employees that were pulled from Incyte to start Velocity11.
 * A quote from the move This is Spinal Tap "These go to eleven" spoken by the guitarist Nigel when talking about their high-powered amplifier.

None of these explanations are completely true, but taken as a conglomeration they sum up what the founders were trying to convey. Each explanation illustrates a facet of the early history of the company and accurately describes the company's driving forces.

Product History
The first Velocity11 products offered at the beginning of 2000 included:


 * PlateLoc - robotically-accessible thermal plate sealer
 * VPrep - robotically-accessible benchtop automated pipettor with a uniquely small footprint and interchangeable pipette heads
 * VStack - robotically-accessible plate stacking / storage device
 * Vector - plate reformatting system
 * DotBot - high-throughput DNA microarray production machine
 * BioCel - flexible platform for automating assays. Featured a unique radial arrangement of instruments to maximize the density of instruments accessible by the centrally-located robotic arm.
 * VWorks - Once only packaged with a Biocel, VWorks provided the user with a simple interface for designing protocols.

Of Note

 * Ranked #146 in the 2004 Inc. 500 list
 * Ranked #16 in the 2006 Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 rankings of the fastest growing companies in the Scientific & Medical Equipment and Bio-Technology category.

Official site

 * Velocity11

Other links

 * Technology Fast 50: Silicon Valley - Deloitte & Touche USA LLP