Asia is quickly becoming the home of the fastest growing IoT marketplaces and companies are really starting to see the advantages of getting in on the action sooner rather than later.
Ayla Networks today announced that it has secured $39 million in Series C funding to expand its Asian business initiatives and promote its global IoT platform for manufacturers. The round was lead by Ants Capital, an investment bank and asset management company headquartered in China. Other investers were 3NOD, Mitsui and Acorn Pacific. Existing Ayla investors Cisco (News - Alert) Investments, Crosslink Capital, International Finance Corp. (IFC, a division of World Bank Group), Linear Venture, SAIF Partners/Oriza Ventures, SJF Ventures and Voyager Capital also reinvested in this financing round.
“Our strategy at Ants Capital is to focus on the leading platforms in particular market segments and select winners,” said Yin Min, managing partner, Ants Capital. “The Internet of Things will be the next area where major winners will emerge, and we invested in Ayla because it has unmatched traction inside China and globally with leading manufacturers making IoT products. Ayla’s strategy and IoT platform is a clear fit with the direction of manufacturers worldwide.”
During the past year, the company has announced new or expanded relationships with manufacturing customers that include Changhong, Dimplex, Fujitsu (News - Alert) General, Hampton Brinks, Hunter Fan, Kidde, LockState, Ozner, TCL and United Technologies Electronic Controls (UTEC). Ayla also has more than doubled its employee headcount in that time.
“With IoT clouds operating in multiple regions worldwide, and with major customers continuing to expand their Ayla-powered IoT product lines, Ayla believes that the ‘when’ of the IoT is right now—and that Ayla Networks is well positioned to help manufactures take advantage of growing market for connected products,” said David Friedman (News - Alert), CEO and co-founder, Ayla Networks. “The IoT market is like a rocket ship, and we’ve seen it gather speed rapidly in recent months,” said Friedman. “Manufacturers that a year ago simply wanted to build a connected product are now discovering the business transformation possible through harnessing the data generated by IoT products.”
Ayla has now established IoT clouds in North America, China and Europe. In China, where Ayla is the only international IoT platform to have been granted a license to serve as an Internet Content Provider (ICP), the company has built out its platform to integrate and align with WeChat so users can control multiple smart home, smart health and other IoT lifestyle products from a single app.
Ayla has also formally established a presence in Japan and plans to add a fourth Ayla IoT cloud service to support the broader Asia region, including Japan.
“Ayla is becoming a trusted global IoT expert, and the Ayla Agile (News - Alert) IoT platform is enabling manufacturers to turn their products into smart connected systems, transforming their businesses to compete in the game-changing world of connectivity,” said Friedman. “We are grateful to be part of this new era of connected products, and for the confidence our new and existing investors place in Ayla and in our strategies for continuing to help manufacturers embrace the IoT future.”