Exclusive: Industrial IoT startup Altizon raises $1 mn in fresh capital
Altizon Systems Pvt. Ltd, which operates a platform for developing solutions based on industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), has raised around $1 million (Rs 6.9 crore at current exchange rates) in a fresh round of funding, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told TechCircle.
Existing investors Wipro Ventures and The Hive, a technology-focused fund anchored by Arihant Patni, contributed to the round, the persons said on the condition of anonymity.
Mumbai-based investment firm Pi Ventures LLP has also backed Pune-based Altizon, one of the above-mentioned persons said. It is not clear whether Pi Ventures had previously invested in the company.
The valuation of the firm could not be immediately ascertained but a second person said that Altizon was in the process of a raising a larger sum. It was not clear whether the fresh infusion was a bridge round or a part of this larger round.
E-mail queries and phone calls made to Altizon co-founder and chief executive Vinay Nathan, Wipro Ventures, The Hive and Pi Ventures did not elicit responses till the time of publishing this report.
The fresh infusion comes more than two years after Altizon raised $4 million (around Rs 27.2 crore then) in a Series A funding round led by Wipro Ventures and Lumis Partners. Altizon’s existing investors The Hive and Infuse Ventures had also participated in that round.
Altizon
Altizon was launched in 2013 by Nathan, Ranjit Nair and Yogesh Kulkarni. The company also has a US-based wholly-owned subsidiary, Altizon Inc. According to its website, the company’s technology solutions revolve around IIoT and cater to multiple industries that include automotive, steel, FMCG, and energy.
The company has three offerings under its Datonis suite. Its flagship product Datonis IIoT platform is a cloud-based PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) offering that allows for visualising, processing and analysing IoT-generated data in real time.
Datonis Manufacturing Intelligence is an enterprise business application which helps in integrating information from plant-floor systems to provide insights. Likewise, Datonis Edge enables smart IoT connectivity for devices, thereby connecting and exchanging information with the Datonis IIoT platform.
Nathan holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California and had earlier worked at Persistent Systems as vice- president of sales (Asia-Pacific and Middle East). Nair had previously worked as a software development manager at Amazon, while Kulkarni was earlier director (cloud) at BMC Software. Both Nair and Kulkarni are alumni of University of Pune.
According to Altizon’s filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company doubled its consolidated operational revenues to Rs 1.08 crore in the financial year 2016-17, up from Rs 51.32 lakh the previous fiscal.
However, expenses rose three-fold to Rs 7.49 crore from Rs 2.44 crore the previous year. Net losses widened to Rs 5.05 crore, significantly higher than the Rs 1.67 crore it reported in 2015-16.
Deals in the space
While the IoT space in India is fairly nascent in comparison with developed markets, investors are starting to take note of its progress.
Earlier this week, Pune- and US-based IIoT startup Infinite Uptime raised $5 million (Rs 34.5 crore) in a Series A funding round from private equity firm Mayfield, early-stage venture capital firm GSR Ventures and GiTV.
Earlier this month, Silvan Innovation Labs Pvt. Ltd, which provides home automation solutions, raised Rs 4.5 crore (around $650,000) in a bridge round from equity crowdfunding platform 1Crowd and existing investor Infuse Ventures.
In January, Mumbai-based internet-of-things (IoT) startup Faclon Labs Pvt. Ltd received an undisclosed amount in a seed round to fund its product development and commercialisation efforts.
Wipro Ventures
Wipro Ventures is the investment arm of IT services major Wipro. It has invested in several early- to mid-stage startups working on emerging technologies in India, Israel and the US. It typically puts in between $1 million and $10 million in a single round, depending on the stage of the investment.
The Hive India was floated in September 2013 by Patni Computers’ scions Amit and Arihant Patni. It typically invests between $200,000 and $2 million in three to five companies a year and picks 20-40% stake in startups in return for the investment. It also backs startups at the idea-stage.
The fund invests in big data firms operating in multi-channel marketing, CRM, security, IT management, e-commerce, retail, advertising, media, financial services and insurance, telecom and healthcare.
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