The 10 Hottest IoT Startups Of 2020 (So Far)

These IoT startups are making waves in the industry this year with new products and services in addition to new customer and funding milestones.

These Startups Could Have Long-Term Prospects In IoT

While the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a surge in demand for cloud services and laptops, the same cannot be said for the IoT market.

Demand has fallen in multiple verticals like retail and industrial. And yet executives believe there is hope for IoT's long-term prospects, underlining the importance startups can play in the future of the field.

"What COVID has taught all of us is that if you didn’t have a digital transformation strategy, you need to have one moving forward," Intel IoT sales executive Brad Haczynski told CRN last month.

Research firm IDC has also pointed to IoT, among other emerging technologies like 5G and high-performance computing, as "fundamental to an overall recovery by the technology sector."

What follows are 10 of the hottest IoT startups of 2020 so far, companies with new and innovative products and services that can push the industry forward as a "new normal" emerges.

For more of the biggest startups, products and news stories of 2020, click here.

Augury

CEO: Saar Yoskovitz

Augury helps organizations monitor the health and performance of their machines with an offering that combines multifaceted wireless sensors and artificial intelligence algorithms.

The startup, which is based in New York and Israel, said in December that it had raised $8 million from Qualcomm Ventures' AI fund, adding to the $25 million Series C round the company had raised from investors earlier in 2019.

Augury's offering starts with its wireless Halo sensors that can monitor vibration, temperature and magnetic data from machines, which are then recorded and sent to the startup's secure cloud to run AI algorithms for predictive maintenance and asset performance management.

Circonus

CEO: Bob Moul

Led by former Boomi CEO Bob Moul, Circonus provides a machine data intelligence platform that is targeting IoT analytics and IT monitoring use cases.

The Fulton, Md.-based startup said its platform can handle trillions of data points per second from a variety of sources, which can give businesses and organizations richer and more accurate analysis of their business processes for improved decision-making.

In January, Circonus raised a $6.8 million Series A1 funding round that was led by Osage Venture Partners, which is being used to hire more employees and expand sales and marketing.

Claroty

CEO: Yaniv Vardi

Industrial cybersecurity provider Claroty aims to close the security gap between IT and operational technology with its threat detection, asset management and network segmentation software.

The New York-based vendor most recently appointed Yaniv Vardi, former leader of Israeli energy management provider Panoramic Power, as its new CEO, with the goal of bringing its entire portfolio to more customers in emerging verticals like transportation and food and beverage.

The startup has expanded its security capabilities with new network monitoring, threat deteOrdction and vulnerability management integrations for its Secure Remote Access software as well as a new hygiene score that analyzes which OT assets and systems are at the greatest risk of an attack.

FogHorn Systems

CEO: David King

FogHorn Systems provides an edge intelligence platform that aims to streamline artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads in edge devices.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup said in February that it had more than 100 industrial IoT use cases with dozens of customers and grew annual license bookings from last year nearly tenfold as it started signing multimillion-dollar, multiyear enterprise licenses with large industrial companies.

That momentum helped FogHorn raise a $25 million Series C round earlier this year that was led by South Korean industrial conglomerate LS Corp., with participation by return investors, which include Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital, Honeywell Ventures and GE Ventures.

Myriota

CEO: Alex Grant

Myriota provides low-cost, low-power satellite connectivity for IoT devices in remote locations.

The Australian startup said in April that it had raised a Series B funding round, roughly equivalent to $19 million U.S., led by Hostplus and Main Sequence Ventures, with participation from CIA-backed In-Q-Tel, Boeing HorizonX and other investors.

The startup said its offering, which is made possible by its low-power Myriota modules that connect with nanosatellites orbiting the earth, can support deployments with billions of devices while also reducing power use for those devices.

Ordr

CEO: Greg Murphy

Founded by former Aruba Networks executives, Ordr is an IoT security startup that uses artificial intelligence to automatically identify, secure and segment devices on networks.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company emerged out of stealth mode last year with former Aruba Networks CEO Dominic Orr as its chairman and former Aruba Networks executive Greg Murphy as its CEO. The company has raised $50 million to date from investors, including venture capital firm TenEleven Ventures and seed investor Wing Ventures.

Ordr launched its global partner program in May, giving solution providers multiple ways to make money in securing and controlling connected devices on corporate IT networks.

Phizzle

CEO: Ben Davis

Phizzle aims to make IoT deployments more scalable and efficient with a software stack that enables low-wattage edge devices to deliver server-grade performance.

The San Francisco-based startup said its EDGMaker software stack can increase the power efficiency of edge devices like routers, gateways and switches by a factor of at least five, enabling devices with 40 or fewer watts to operate with the performance of a 200-watt server.

The company said in May that it had landed a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company as its first customer that will use EDGMaker to automate the management of machines like particle counters and Ph balancers, enabling significant savings in operational costs.

Roambee

CEO: Sanjay Sharma

Roambee provides real-time shipment tracking and asset monitoring solutions that combine multi-sensor IoT modules and artificial intelligence software.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said in January that it had raised a $15.2 million Series B funding round led by Anchor Group, with participation from Intuitive Ventures, logistics conglomerate Jebsen & Jessen, Indonesian wireless service provider Telkomsel and industrialist Anant Singhania.

Roambee said more than 200 customers, including top companies in the pharmaceutical, logistics and food and beverage industries, use the company's platform to track goods and derive insight on their condition and location in outdoor and indoor settings as well as in transit.

Seeq

CEO: Steve Sliwa

Seeq's software runs advanced analytics on manufacturing data that companies are already collecting from sensors and machines, giving them the ability to monitor systems and do predictive maintenance.

The Seattle-based startup, which has a remote workforce, said in January that it had raised a $24 million Series B round led by Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, with participation from return investors Altira Group, Chevron Technology Ventures and Second Avenue Partners.

The new funding arrived as the company said it had racked up more than 50 channel partners and customers across more than 40 countries, including British-Dutch oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC as well as pharmaceutical heavyweights Merck and Roche.

Skylo

CEO: Parthsarathi "Parth" Trivedi

Skylo aims to provide affordable and ubiquitous IoT connectivity with a service that provides an NB-IoT network connection via satellite.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based startup launched out of stealth mode in January with $116 million in funding from investors, including SoftBank Group, after completing successful field trials with major enterprise and government customers.

With connectivity that starts at $1 per user and sub-$100 modules, Skylo said its service costs 95 percent less than existing satellite solutions, which will help provide large-scale, affordable connectivity to industries like agriculture, fishing, rail and logistics.