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Jonathan Haswell
Chief Business Officer @ Ocean Well Water | Sustainable Water Solutions | GTM and Non Dilutive Financing | Imagine H2O 2024
Jonathan is an experienced founder and start up leader who has scaled and led large technical teams first in the gaming and mobility sectors, and now in climate tech.
Jonathan founded SVO.Auto (Special Vehicle Operations), a provider of test fleet services for autonomous vehicle developers. SVO was spun out from Simraceway Performance Driving and together they were the longest-running provider of sourcing, training and managing autonomous vehicle test fleet operators. They trained several thousands test fleet operators across North America for most of the marquee autonomous vehicle companies, including its origin customer, Waymo.They also developed the first test fleet outsourcing programs in the domain, as well as niche risk management services for AV developers.
SVO was the culmination of two previous journeys, Simraceway Performance Driving and Ignite Gaming., Both businesses focused on high fidelity driving skill from two different angles, the real world and simulation. In 2007 Jonathan founded Ignite Gaming, a venture-backed eSports startup focused on motorsport simulation. Ignite’s founding insight was a novel method for driving skill quantification. This enabled vastly improved player skill matching, opening the door to real world prize competitions. Other highlights beyond shipping the game itself and an associated hardware product include assembling one of the largest ever catalogues of automotive brand IP and an ultra efficient art pipeline for vehicle assets.
Jonathan was an early advocate for the connection between the physical and virtual worlds.. In 2007 he purchased a small motorsport business and founded Simraceway Performance Driving Center (SPDC) to explore this connection. Simraceway grew to become California’s highest rated driving center, operating a 100+ vehicle fleet from a permanent race track located 30,000sq ft facility. Simraceway grew to four branded business units, including Audi sportscar experience, Audi’s official driving program for the US market Simraceway was ultimately purchased by the largest operator of raceways in the USA in 2020.
Jonathan has reformed from his past work in the automotive industry and is now focused on climate projects.
