Source: iotevolutionworld.com
Particle, an IoT platform, has raised $40 million in a series C round of venture capital. The purpose was to make the consumer and enterprise IoT easier for its customers. The company’s investors in this round include Qualcomm and Energy Impact Partners.
The platform offers the necessities for customers’ companies to build IoT initiatives and connect a smart product. This includes hardware, software and connectivity. The results includes real-time data, device management, wireless connectivity via cellular or mesh protocols and all the building blocks these companies would need for application enablement for their IoT ecosystem.
“We offer a fully-integrated approach that allows companies to deliver an IoT product that is secure, deliverable, and reliable very quickly,” said Zach Supalla, CEO, Particle. “We’ve been able to take a complex technology stack and simplify it … you don’t need deep technical expertise to build a product anymore.”
The goal is to increase efficiency and enhance workforce productivity. Sensor technology and smart objects, which are properly connected via cloud computing, have the potential to provide that for Particle.
“Particle has a role to play in helping reduce our reliance on the current energy economy … reducing consumption,” said Supalla. “And in addressing the challenges related to climate change more broadly … one customer, Opti, provides water management data so that cities can more intelligently user existing water resources.”
Better sensors and smarter technology that immediately detects downed wires could switch off electricity locally. This would reduce sparking risk as well as the need to preemptively shut down power for entire neighborhoods. And having a smarter grid with distributed power generation and storage that was more for sharing power between producer/consumers than sending it from centralized production facilities in only one direction, which would be out to consumers, would also be more efficient to environmental factors.
“Creating a bridge from the physical to the digital world is far more complex than most people realize,” said Carlos Kokron, VP, Qualcomm. “From the device itself to the network to cloud connectivity and software functionality, there are a lot of moving parts and complexities. Particle’s full-stack platform for IoT technology development accounts for all of these vital elements in a highly secure and flexible environment.”
