As more and more new and innovated connected devices come to market, one of the biggest questions we have at GearBrain is how can we make our existing traditional devices like a kitchen appliance or hot tub connected and smart? There must be a way to do this and help connect everything into one ecosystem. Well, there is a way thanks to Particle, the most widely used Internet of Things (IoT) platform in the world. Their platform provides an end-to-end solution for manufacturers, both traditional and startups, to leverage to make their devices/appliances smarter and connected. And with today's announcement of their $40 million in Series C funding led by Qualcomm Ventures LLC and Energy Impact Partners, we can expect Particle to take things to the next level.

With this round, which includes prior existing investors Root Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Industry Ventures, Spark Capital, Green D Ventures, Counterpart Ventures, and SOSV, Particle's total venture capital funding grows to $81.3 million to date. But this follows significant growth in demand for Particle's enterprise IoT platform. The company has experienced 150 percent year-over-year revenue growth, driven largely by fast-growing customers successfully bringing their Particle-powered IoT products to market. Particle customers also benefit from the security, reliability and scalability that a full-stack platform provides; customers are gathering more than 22 billion sensor data points a year.

Particle LogoParticle

Particle offers an end-to-end IoT platform that provides software, hardware, and connectivity as an integrated solution that ensures their customers' IoT products are reliable, scalable, and secure. This allows a wide variety of companies ranging from traditional manufacturers to fast-growing start-ups to bring an IoT product to market quickly without building their own software infrastructure.

"Over the last seven years we've seen a wide range of business embrace IoT, especially those driving innovation in traditional industries," said Zach Supalla, CEO of Particle. "More and more of our customers are in old-fashioned, even unglamorous, businesses like stormwater management, industrial equipment, shipping, or monitoring any number of compressors, pumps, and valves. These businesses are diverse, but the common thread is that they need to monitor and control mission-critical machines, and we see it as our mission to help bring their machines, vehicles, and devices into the 21st century."

Particle E Series LTEParticle

"Creating a bridge from the physical to the digital world is far more complex than most people realize, " said Carlos Kokron, Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and Managing Director, Americas,Qualcomm Ventures. "From the device itself to the network to cloud connectivity and software functionality, there are a lot of moving parts and complexities. Particle's full-stack platform for IoT technology development accounts for all of these vital elements in a highly secure and flexible environment. We have been very impressed with Particle's technology and market traction and are excited to continue to support their growth."

For EIP, investing in Particle is investing in sustainable energy and environmental protection. "As we move toward a decarbonized future, Particle's industry-leading full-stack IoT platform will play a foundational role in reducing the barriers to innovation for startups and incumbents across the entire energy value chain." said EIP Partner Sameer Reddy. "The impact they'll have to our industry and partners in driving a cleaner and more resilient future will be exciting to watch."

GearBrain recently met with Particle and were impressed with what the company has accomplished to-date. We were also fascinated with their new hardware, B402. This new product is an LTE CAT M1 system-on-module that can provide maximum flexibility in a cost-effective and efficient way. It is smaller than Particle's Boron development kit (size of a postage stamp) which is used to turn a traditional product into a connected device. The B402 has BLE and NFC support and can be used in everything from hard drives to laptops to support high-speed communications, a necessity for future compatibility.

Particle's new B402 chipGearBrain

You might be wondering why GearBrain is reporting on Particle since they don't sell their product directly to consumers. Either does Intel who you see a lot of news about that and how they power IoT devices. We are bringing this news to you to help you learn about a company that is manufacturing the next generation of chips to be used to help us live a more connected lifestyle in the very near future. To learn more about Particle, you can visit www.particle.io. To learn more about B402, click here.