IoT February 2025 News: New Aeris CEO, NXP Acquisition, Augury Funding

In February, Aeris announces a former Microsoft executive as its new CEO, Honeywell reveals a break-up plan, NXP Semiconductors lands a deal to acquire an edge AI chip designer, plus Augury and Verkada announce big funding rounds.

February saw a variety of announcements across the IoT landscape, whether it was Aeris announcing a former Microsoft executive as its new CEO, Honeywell announcing a break-up plan or NXP Semiconductors landing a deal to acquire an edge AI chip designer.

There were also developments from Augury and Verkada—both of which announced funding rounds—as well as Qualcomm, Morse Micro, Variscite and HiveMQ last month.

What follows are summaries of noteworthy IoT news from February 2025.

Aeris Names Former Microsoft Exec Aziz Benmalek New CEO

Aeris, a Chicago-based provider of cellular IoT platforms and solutions, announced on Feb. 18 the appointment of former Microsoft executive Aziz Benmalek as its new CEO and board director. The company said it is “one of the largest IoT connectivity management platform SaaS providers,” serving 7,000 enterprise customers, 30 mobile operator partners and over 80 million IoT devices between its IoT platform and Aeris Mobility Suite.

Honeywell To Split Into Three Stand-Alone Companies

Industrial juggernaut Honeywell announced on Feb. 6 that it will split up the company into three publicly listed companies: Honeywell Automation, which will focus on supplying automation technologies, solutions and software; Honeywell Aerospace, which is expected to become “one of the largest, publicly traded, pure-play aerospace suppliers;” and Advanced Materials, which will focus on specialty chemicals and materials.

The separation is expected to happen in the second half of 2026.

Augury Raises $75M Round From Qualcomm, Schneider Electric, Others

New York-based industrial IoT startup Augury announced on Feb. 19 that it has raised a $75 million funding round, which it said allowed it to maintain a valuation of more than $1 billion. The round was led by investment group Lightrock with participation from several existing investors, including the venture capital arms of Qualcomm and Schneider Electric. The company said its AI-powered Machine Health and Process Health solutions maximize yield and reduce downtime, among other things, for manufacturers.

NXP Semiconductors To Buy Edge AI Chip Designer Kinara

Dutch chip manufacturer NXP Semiconductors said on Feb. 10 that it has agreed to pay $307 in an all-cash deal to acquire Kinara, which it called the “industry leader in high performance, energy-efficient and programmable discrete neural processing units [NPU].” Expected to close in the first half of 2025, the deal will help the company boost its offerings for “secure, cost-effective and energy efficient AI processing at the edge.”

Verkada Raises $200M To Add More AI To Its Physical Security Solutions

Verkada, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of cloud-based physical security technology, announced on Feb. 19 that it has raised a $200 million Series E funding round at a $4.5 billion valuation. With venture capital firm General Catalyst leading the round, it brings the company’s total funding to more than $700 million. The company said it will use the round to “further infuse AI into its security and safety solutions, and more broadly enhance and expand its cloud-based physical security platform.”

Morse Micro Launches Long-Range, Energy-Efficient Wi-Fi Gateway

Sydney, Australia-based long-range Wi-Fi chip developer Morse Micro announced on Feb. 18 the general availability of what it called the “world’s first Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi HaLow gateway. It said the product will enable developers, system integrators and manufacturers to “harness the power of long-range, energy-efficient Wi-Fi HaLow combined with traditional Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) connectivity in a single, compact gateway.” Called HaLowLink1, the product is now available to purchase from distributor Mouser for $99.

Variscite, Check Point Partner To Boost IoT Device Security

Tel Aviv, Israel-based embedded systems designer and manufacturer Variscite announced on Feb. 27 a partnership with cybersecurity vendor Check Point Software Technologies that will allow its customers to use the latter company’s Check Point Nano Agent in its full line of system-on-modules to “dramatically increase” IoT and embedded device security.”

Qualcomm Announces New Dragonwing Brand For IoT Solutions

San Diego, Calif.-based mobile chip giant Qualcomm announced on Feb. 25 the new Dragonwing brand, which will encompass solutions for industrial and embedded IoT as well as networking and cellular infrastructure. The brand is meant to complement its Snapdragon brand, which represents the company’s computer chip products.

HiveMQ Debuts New Distributed Data Intelligence Platform

HiveMQ, a provider of enterprise solutions based on the MQTT machine-to-machine network protocol, announced on Feb. 18 its next-generation distributed data intelligence platform. Called HiveMQ Pulse and meant for IoT use cases, the platform lets organizations “manage, transform, govern, and derive insights from distributed devices and systems, providing a single, structured view of operational data across the enterprise,” it said.