Thinking about the Jony Ive article and one I’ve yet to publish on Telematics 4.0, I saw the contrast of VC interest in hardware. Jony Ive’s io Products is a true Unicorn VC play operating in stealth mode and only a select few know the full story. The money that has come into the business is based on reputation more than data analysis.
Meanwhile, Telematics 4.0 hasn’t had an investment since 2022, and almost all the investments have been made by companies that have previously invested in this space, along with VCs. The one exception is SmartCar. SmartCar raised $24M in a B round in 2022 by Energize Ventures with NEA and Andreessen Horowitz. As Andreessen Horowitz says, software is eating the world and, in this case, SmartCar fits into that wheelhouse, as it offers APIs that enable developers to access vehicle data for applications like remote diagnostics and fleet management. That sentiment about software is held by most VCs.
Trying to see if VCs are buying into the hardware aspect of AIoT is frustrating – with all the hype around AI, it’s hard to discern where the line is drawn. Here is what I have produced, but I would love to hear from my readers if they know of any others.
What I found is pretty scarce, so I am either early or don’t know how to search.
Butlr calls the category of AIoT physical AI (PAI) technology. Under that umbrella, they were awarded a $75M B round with investments from Ricoh, Wistron and Taiwan Global Angels for a total of $75M in funding to date. The investment is around their “AIsensors,” which collect data anonymously on humans as they use the inside of the building to determine adjustments to maintain optimum conditions.
I am not sure if I should count Kneron or not. Their $97M investment is noteworthy, as they have developed an edge AI chip to support Transformer (GPT) neural networks in automobiles, and it is hardware, but it’s not sensor to AI directly. However, they have Toyota, Foxconn, Quanta and Hahwha as customers, so they are supporting AIoT. The investors put in $97M, led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from Liteon Technology Corp, Adata, Palpilot, Foxconn and HH-CTBC Partnership (Foxconn Co-GP Fund).
nami raised $10.5 million in its Series A round on July 6, 2023, to broaden its digital sensing infrastructure across residential and commercial settings. The financing was backed by Verizon Ventures, AMAVI Capital, INSPiRE, and Aconterra,
I will point out that Jony Ive raised half-a-million dollars from a single investor (nice when you have money). While the list of other AIoT companies took a village to get funded. I will venture a guess that Jony Ive is a one-off and, for the near term, AIoT will need several backers. However, as AI gets more autonomy, I am sure hardware improvements are going to be desired, and we know that PSoCs are being designed to enable AI on the sensors themselves.
Edited by
Erik Linask
