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IIoT Start-ups Seek Venture Capital

Are you tired of hearing how ICOs are disrupting fundraising? The first five months of 2018 saw funds raised through token sales jump to $13.7 billion, around double the amount raised in the whole of 2017. Venture capital funding is not going away any time soon. We’re going to see a change in funding models and the growth of hybrid models thanks to cryptocurrencies, but there’s one thing that’s not going to change, and that’s investment in disruptive ideas and the people behind them.

When it comes to creating vertical markets, there is nothing that compares to the Industrial Internet of Things or IIoT, as it has come to be called. Everything on the planet appears to be ripe for the IIoT on so many levels. Healthcare, manufacturing, connected cars, utilities and more are all just waiting to produce profits for investors. Particularly with the industrial strength size of IoT.

Industrial production has always been a dangerous arena but startups in IIoT are creating solutions which increase efficiency, improve supply chains, reduce waste and provide greater safety for workers. Amid an advancing ecosystem of interconnectivity, startups in robotics (Preferred Networks Inc.) , wearable technology (Proglove), 3D imaging (Vayyar), AR (Augmate), factory intelligence (N-JOIN) and blockchain (Filament).

Chris Ward is the author of the piece from the nextweb.com and for his article he interviewed Alberto Cresto, VC associate at Momenta Partners, a fund solely focused in Connected Industry across Telematics, Industrial Automation, RFID, M2M/IoT, Enterprise systems, Infrastructure and Network system.

Ward was keen to learn about how IIoT investing differs from other forms of investment. Alberto explained that IIoT focuses on B2B products rather than B2C and consumer IoT meaning that the end user is vastly different.

Alberto Cresto

Alberto Cresto

In 2017, venture capital funding into U.S.-based IoT startups alone reached its highest annual mark as investors poured $1.46 billion into startups, according to Crunchbase data. That’s up 42 percent from $1.03 billion in 2016, and 216 percent more than the $461.7 million raised in

Then there are large corporations taking notice such as Cisco Investments investing in Evrythngand GE ventures investment on OnRamp Wireless.. Even less established companies such as last Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro launching a $100m global venture targeting startups in IoT and related markets.

Thats a lot of investment for any industry to want to make. For layman or professionals alike,Ward’s article is deep in numbers, predictions and facts on the people who will be helping to build and guide the IIot. It is a long but informative.

read more at thenextweb.com