IoT Solution Biz Skylo Bags $103 Mn To Scale Operations In India

Global machine connectivity solution company Skylo has raised $103 Mn in Series B funding round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Global. So far, the company has raised $116 Mn.

Previously, the company had raised $13 Mn in Series A, led by DCM and Innovation Endeavors. Moore Strategic Ventures had also participated in the round. The three investors have also participated in Series B round.

Founded in 2017 by Parth Trivedi, Andrew Nuttall and Andrew Kalman, Skylo is a California-based company that provides affordable solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity for machines, sensors and other devices in several industries — disaster management, maritime, vehicle and equipment, agriculture and more.

The company claims to be the “most affordable” satellite technology, costing 95% less than traditional satellite connectivity.

“Skylo lives up to the definition of a disruptive innovation — with its low costs, it will enable millions of unconnected devices to experience the transformative effects of connectivity — saving lives, enhancing livelihoods and creating connections where they didn’t exist before,” said Skylo board chairman, Terry Kramer.

For this, the company leverages cellular Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) protocol. The NB-IoT is a radio access technology that relies on cellular networks to deploy a high number of connected devices to transmit small data packages.

“Skylo’s new satellite connectivity leverages existing geostationary satellites to bring reliable connectivity without the need to add new infrastructure in space. Skylo has successfully built and proven its end-to-end technology and completed successful commercial field trials with major enterprise and government customers,” Skylo said, in its press release.

The company claims that its technology can enable IoT connectivity enable operations in remote businesses, increase safety, drive economic development, job creation and also help in disaster preparedness.

Skylo has its offices in California in the US, Bangalore in India, and Tel Aviv in Israel. In India, Skylo claims to have built technologies to connect Indian railway coaches to their satellite sensors. Moreover, the company is also being used by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to connect remote polling stations in the North-East region to facilitate the election process.

Skylo’s product line includes satellite terminal Skylo Hub, connectivity enabler Skylo Network, and data analysis tools Skylo Data Platform and Skylo API. The company is underway to manufacture Skylo Hub the product in bulk, however, the Skylo Network is already live with early customers. With this funding, Skylo is looking to expand its workforce and scale its customer implementations in India, followed by other emerging markets.