The Week in Review: IoT

Finance
San Francisco-based Aquabyte has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Costanoa Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. Princeton University and strategic investors in the U.S. and Norway also participated in the round. The startup is using computer vision and machine learning to optimize efficiency in fish farming. Aquabyte is first deploying its technology in Norway in cooperation with the NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster.

Investors have put $1.5 million into hoopo, an Israeli startup with an office in Santa Monica, Calif. The firm aims to improve asset tracking for low-power Internet of Things devices, providing geolocation technology for low-power wide-area networks. Its investors include AirMap CEO Ben Marcus, Eli Fogel, and Zohar Gilon. At the end of this month, hoopo will exhibit at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

M&A
Elliott Management, the activist hedge fund, is amping up its efforts to get Qualcomm to pay more for shares of NXP Semiconductors. Elliott has asserted that $135 a share is a fairer price for the value in NXP, well above the $110 agreed upon in 2016 by NXP and Qualcomm. NXP’s stock was trading around $120 late this week. Elliott holds about 7.2% of NXP’s shares, far more than Qualcomm has received through its continuing tender offer, and the hedge fund makes its case at this website.

Analysis
Bernard Marr writes about the convergence of blockchain technology and the IoT in this analysis. Both topics are subject to excitement and hype, he notes, yet the case can be made for combining the technologies, Marr asserts.

Products/Services
The Port of Rotterdam Authority will work with IBM to implement IoT technologies over multiple years at Europe’s largest port. The effort will take in real-time water and weather sensor data, along with communications data, for analysis. The parties plan to implement artificial intelligence technology in the transition to connected, autonomous shipping. Cisco Systems and Axians (a brand of VINCI Energies) are also involved in the initiative.

National Instruments introduced the IC-3173 IP67 Industrial Controller, which is suitable for Industrial IoT applications in harsh environments. The controller incorporates time-sensitive networking and can help engineers integrate highly synchronized sensor measurements with the new TSN-enabled CompactDAQ Chassis.

Recognition
The Linley Group gave its Analysts’ Choice Award 2017 for “Best Technology” to SecureRF for its authentication and data protection offerings, aimed at embedded devices, processors, and sensors used in the IoT.

Market Research
IHS Markit predicts this year will see more than 31 billion connected IoT devices deployed around the world. The firm’s IoT Trend Watch report identifies four key drivers of IoT technology: Innovation and competitiveness; business models; standardization and security; and wireless technology innovation.

Frost & Sullivan has a new report, “Industrial IoT Driving Manufacturing Innovation.” Details are available here.

San Diego-based ON World forecasts 141 million low-power wide-area networking devices will connect in smart cities around the world by 2022, a 12x increase. The firm’s “Smart Cities LPWA” report is available here.