A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting start-ups globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – SMART CITIES
- Plume Labs, a Paris-based air quality tracking solution developer, raised $4.5M in seed money from biotech entrepreneur Dr. Laurent Alexandre and others (including the Open Data Incubator for Europe, Climate-KIC, Bpifrance). Link
- CyanConnode, a Swavesey-based urban metering solutions provider, raised $3.9M post-IPO by issuing new shares. Link
- BreezoMeter, a Haifa-based air quality and pollution data solutions provider, raised $3M in a Series A round led by Phi Square Holdings, and participated in by Entrée Capital, Launchpad Digital Health and SeediL. Link
- StreetScan, a Boston-based road monitoring and maintenance solution provider, raised $880k. Link
- NovaSens, a Hod HaSharon-based networking infrastructure developer, raised a $200k seed round. Link
- The Urban Institute, a Chemnitz-based developer of an urban-scale data collection and analysis platform, raised funds from Continental Corporation. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
AerNos (2016, La Jolla) – Develops nanotechnology-based miniature air quality sensors for scalable data collection
LEADER BOARD – SMART CITIES
Urban Management & Monitoring – Utilities
Smart Pipe (2000, Katy, $12M) – Pipeline rehabilitation system developer. Backed by Enbridge Inc. (through a subsidiary) and others.
Syrinix (2004, Norwich, $4.1M) – Develops pipeline monitoring solutions. Backed by Angel CoFund, London Business Angels and others.
Enevo (2010, Espoo, $27M) – Smart sensor networks to monitor waste containers and provide savings in waste collection. Backed by Lifeline Ventures, Industry Investment, Earlybird VC, Draper Associates, Foxconn and others.
Urban Management & Monitoring – Infrastructure
LQD WiFi (2014, NYC, $1.7M, Acq.) – Develops information kiosks (with integrated sensors) for public urban spaces. Acquired by Verizon in Nov 2016.
Soofa (2014, Cambridge, $1M) – Develops a smart urban bench with integrated sensors a solar-powered phone charging unit. Backed by E14 Fund and Accomplice.
Urban Management & Monitoring – Energy
Sensity Systems (2010, Sunnyvale, $74M) – High speed, sensor based open networking platform known as Light Sensory Network. Backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures, Cisco Investments, GE Energy, Acuity Brands and Simon Venture Group.
Dazzletek (2012, Breda, $24M) – Develops a lighting control system for building and street lighting. Backed by an undisclosed PE firm.
Telensa (2007, Great Chesterford, $18M) – Develops smart street lighting solutions for cities. Backed by ETF Partners.
Urban Management & Monitoring – Urban Mobility
INRIX (2004, Kirkland, $133M) – Real time, historical and predictive traffic data. Backed by Porsche, August Capital, Venrock, Bain Capital, KPCB, Intel Capital and others.
Streetline (2005, SF, $50M) – Helps drivers find parking spaces and authorities to analyze parking occupancy. Backed by Sutter Hill Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, RockPort Capital Partners, True Ventures, Qualcomm and Citigroup.
Miovision (2005, Kitchener, $24M) – Video and web based technologies for monitoring and analyzing traffic data. Backed by Investco Capital, MacKinnon, Bennett & Co., Plazacorp Ventures and others.
Urban Management & Monitoring – Environment
BreezoMeter (2014, Haifa, $5M) – Provides air quality data at scale. Backed by Entrée Capital, Phi Square Holdings and others.
Understory (2012, Boston, $9.5M) – Collects weather data using ground-based sensors. Backed by CSA Partners, Monsanto, True Ventures and others.
Sensor-Networking Infrastructure
Sigfox (2009, Labege, $314M) – LPWA network provider for low-cost data transmission for IoT. Backed by Salesforce, Telefonica, Intel Capital, NTT Docomo and others
Silver Spring Networks (2002, Redwood City, IPO) – Connectivity Platform and network provider for communications between utility and customer, smart meters and communication nodes. Backed by Hitachi, EMC, GSV Capital, KPCB, Northgate Capital, GV and others.
Ingenu (2008, San Diego, $96M, Acq.) – LPWA network and communications systems. Backed by GE, NRG Energy, ConocoPhillips. Acquired by Trilliant in November 2015.
Data Storage, Analysis and Planning – Data Platforms
Connecthings (2007, Paris, $11M) – Provides NFC tags, QR codes and iBeacon solutions. Backed by Xerys, Groupe Siparex and Calao Finance.
Cityzenith (2009, Chicago, $6M) – Aggregates data from sources such as public (open data), IoT and M2M (real-time operational) and citizens (social media) and makes it available through a standard and open platform. Backed by Mumbai Angels and Sequoia Capital.
Data Storage, Analysis and Planning – Analytics Software
Space-Time Insight (2008, San Mateo, $55M) – Provides real-time analytics for data from varied sources. Backed by Enertech Capital, EON, Opus Capital Ventures and others.
CoSMo (2010, Lyon, $5M) – Provides complex systems modeling and analysis software solutions. Backed by Sofimac Partners and Aster Capital.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
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