Internet of things News

The 10 Hottest Industrial IoT Startups Of 2019

Dylan Martin

December 03, 2019, 12:14 PM EST

From Altizon to Xage Security, CRN looks at the 10 hottest startups of 2019 that are bringing new offerings to the world of industrial IoT.

There's Big Money In Manufacturing, Transportation, Utilities

While IoT is expected to touch many aspects of life and work, a substantial amount of the action is happening on the industrial side, where manufacturers, utilities and other heavy-hitters are making headway in connecting their assets to improve operations.

This is reflected in Gartner's most recent IoT spending forecast, which said that discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, transportation and utilities represent 44 percent of the $745 billion organizations worldwide are expected to spend in 2019.

With IoT spending expected to reach more than $1 trillion in 2022, it's no surprise that established organizations and startups alike are racing to find their role in the world of industrial IoT.

What follows are the 10 hottest industrial IoT startups of 2019, which range in category from comprehensive security platforms to application development platforms.

Altizon

CEO: Vinay Nathan

Altizon is taking on industrial IoT giants like PTC and Siemens with an end-to-end software platform that connects disparate systems and provides applications in a hybrid cloud infrastructure.

The startup, which has offices in Scotts Valley, Calif., and Pune, India, raised a $7 million funding round in April led by the Singapore subsidiary of Indian motorcycle manufacturer TVS Motors, with participation from Wipro's strategic investment firm, Wipro Ventures.

The startup's offerings consist of Datonis Edge for connecting devices and analyzing their data, the Datonis core platform for advanced analytics and integration, and the Datonis Manufacturing Intelligence suite, which is preloaded with modules for productivity, quality, maintenance, energy, profiling and traceability.

BehrTech

CEO: Albert Behr

BehrTech is taking a software-oriented approach to low-power, wide-area networks for industrial IoT with an offering that has lower interference than the proprietary LoRa long-range protocol.

The Toronto-based startup launched its Mythings software platform in June, saying that it can enable companies to make wireless connections in deep indoor and underground environments using standard gateways and sensors, unlike LoRa. The software uses a new LPWAN protocol licensed from the Fraunhofer Institute called MIOTY.

The startup has unveiled a number of partnerships this year, including with Advantech, which will provide a Mythings module for its M2.COM sensor platform. It also launched the all-in-one Mythings Smart Sensor, which includes sensors for acceleration, temperature and humidity, among other things.

Claroty

CEO: Thorsten Freitag

Claroty is an industrial IoT security provider that focuses on threat detection and monitoring for industrial control networks.

After raising a $60 million funding round from Rockwell Automation and venture capital firms backed by Siemens and Schneider Electric last year, the New York-based startup appointed a new CEO, Siemens veteran Thorsten Freitag, in October to drive the security convergence of IT and operational technology.

To help drive this convergence, the startup in July announced the expansion of its deep packet inspection technology for IoT devices, expanding its reach beyond industrial assets.

CyberX

CEO: Omer Schneider

CyberX says its industrial IoT security platform has a track record of defending critical national infrastructure as well as some of the world's top chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

The Boston-based startup, whose platform provides continuous monitoring and vulnerability management for industrial control systems, raised an $18 million funding round in April from Qualcomm Ventures and other investors, bringing total funding to $48 million.

The company says its customers include two of the top five U.S. energy providers, a top five global pharmaceutical company, a top five U.S. chemical company, and national electric and gas utilities across Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its partners include Palo Alto Networks, IBM Security and DXC Technology.

IoTium

CEO: Ron Victor

IoTium is building an app store for industrial IoT as part of its software-defined converged infrastructure platform that makes it easier for organizations to deploy software at the edge.

After raising a $13.6 million Series B financing round led by former Cisco CEO John Chambers' venture capital firm, JC2 Ventures, last year, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup has been expanding its technology and go-to-market partnerships, including with Telit for its deviceWise gateway technology.

Most recently, the startup unveiled a partnership with Deloitte in Australia to deliver joint industrial IoT security solutions for companies in a variety of verticals, including health care and manufacturing.

Litmus Automation

CEO: Vatsal Shah

Litmus Automation provides edge and cloud platforms for industrial IoT deployments that enable predictive maintenance, real-time production monitoring and other offerings.

The San Jose, Calif.-based startup raised a $7 million Series A round led by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp. in September after reaching nearly 50 customers, more than half of which are Fortune 500 companies, and more than 20 partners, which include Ingram Micro and Arrow.

The startup's LoopEdge platform, which can run offline on gateways and industrial PCs, allows companies to collect data from a variety of disparate industrial assets and normalize it for running analytics, event processing, machine learning and 45 applications on its marketplace.

Mocana

CEO: William Diotte

Mocana says it provides a comprehensive security platform for IoT devices and industrial control networks that is used by more than 200 companies, including Siemens and Samsung.

After raising a $15 million funding round in April led by Sway Ventures, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup has been expanding its capabilities, partnerships and executive team, the latter of which now include Juniper Networks veteran Rolf O'Grady and veteran CMO Hope Frank.

Most recently, the company unveiled a partnership with Siemens to integrate Mocana's TrustPoint on-device security software and TrustCenter security orchestration platform with the industrial giant's MindSphere industrial IoT platform.

Sight Machine

CEO: Jon Sobel

Sight Machine wants to become the "SAP of industrial data" with its digital manufacturing platform, which it says is unique in its ability to create a digital twin of the entire manufacturing process.

After raising a $29.4 million Series C round led by South Korean conglomerate LS Group, the San Francisco-based startup attracted an extra seven-figure investment from Sony Corp.'s venture capital arm, the Sony Innovation Fund, which is investing in IoT and artificial intelligence startups.

By taking hundreds of structured and unstructured data sources from the plant floor and turning them into digital twins, Sight Machine's platform can enable manufacturers to quickly create customized analytics and applications for things like predictive maintenance and root cause analysis.

Tulip

CEO: Natan Linder

Tulip wants to make it easier for manufacturers to build their own industrial IoT applications with a no-code development platform that links together people, processes and machines.

The Somerville, Mass.-based startup raised a $39.5 million Series B round led by Vertex Ventures, with participation from one of its customers, machine tools manufacturer DMG Mori. As part of the startup's partnership with DMG Mori, the manufacturer's customers will be able to augment their machine tool workloads with customized Tulip applications.

The startup has been racking up partnerships over the past year as part of its go-to-market strategy. This includes a reseller partnership with solution provider Elevate Technologies LLC and industrial automation solution provider Mechatronic Solutions.

Xage Security

CEO: Duncan Greatwood

Xage Security provides what it calls the world's first blockchain-protected security platform for industrial IoT deployments.

After raising a $12 million Series A funding round last year, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup added an extra investment of roughly $4 million from Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and other investors in January, bringing its total funding for the round to more than $16 million.

The company's platform provides a decentralized security layer that enables autonomous network communication and the establishment of trust at scale. The company is working with NTT Communications, GE Renewables and GlobaLogix on deployments.