The 10 Hottest IoT Startups Of 2023 (So Far)

These startups, ranging from Haltian and Litmus Automation to Morse Micro and Xage Security, are making big moves and creating IoT solutions for building management, manufacturing operations, lab equipment monitoring, long-range connectivity and security, among other things.

Good news for those building and selling IoT solutions: The act of connecting devices to monitor and analyze data from physical sources has gone from nice-to-have to must-have in the eyes of research firm IDC.

“The last few years have shown that connecting with a digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury, but a necessity,” said Carlos M. González, a research manager for IoT at IDC, said in a statement.

This is based on a new report from IDC earlier this month finding that worldwide IoT spending by organizations is estimated to grow 10.6 percent to $805.7 billion this year and surpass $1 trillion in 2026.

The report should be especially welcome news to IoT startups, who are taking big risks and building new technologies to challenge the way things have been done in the physical realm, whether it’s keeping up with maintenance needs in factories, making sure lab equipment doesn’t unexpectedly break or ensuring that spaces stay safe and secure.

What follows are CRN’s 10 hottest IoT startups of 2023 so far. These startups—which include Elemental Machines, Infogrid and SpoT AI, among others—are offering solutions for building management, lab equipment monitoring, manufacturing operations, device development, long-range connectivity and security.

Butlr

CEO, Co-Founder: Honghao Deng

Butlr develops sensor technology that can detect body heat to provide what it calls the “world’s first and only anonymous people sensing platform” for commercial building use cases.

The Burlingame, Calif.-based startup announced in March that new funding from Qualcomm Ventures and the launch of its next-generation Heatic wireless sensors, which cover twice the area of its original sensors to monitor and analyze a building’s indoor foot traffic, occupancy levels and activity.

The startup, which raised a $20 million round last year, says the insights generated by its sensors and software can be used for “asset management, real estate investment planning and policy making in workplaces globally as well as senior care.”

Elemental Machines

CEO, Founder: Sridhar Iyengar

Elemental Machines equips pharmaceutical labs, biobanks, analytical labs and life sciences manufacturing facilities with IoT hardware and software to monitor and gain insights from their lab equipment.

Last November, the Cambridge, Mass.-based startup announced it had raised a $41 million Series B round led by Sageview Capital and co-led by Omega Venture Partners to chase after new opportunities in research, clinical and quality laboratory operations, which represents a $60 billion market.

Elemental Machines’ system connects with nearly any piece of electronic lab equipment, regardless of how old it is, for real-time monitoring and alerts, asset management, utilization monitoring and quality control use cases. The startup has more than 400 customers, including PerkinElmer, MIT and Quanterix.

Haltian

CEO, Co-Founder: Pasi Leipälä

Haltian provides IoT software and hardware to help commercial building operators monitor their spaces, rightsize and optimize workplaces and enable desk sharing, among other use cases.

The Oulu, Finland-based startup announced in April that it had raised a funding round of 22 million euros ($24.2 million) to expand sales and marketing efforts in the United States and Europe. This happened after the company’s revenue grew nearly 50 percent over three years to roughly 20 million euros in 2022.

Most recently, Haltian announced in June the launch of Empathic Buildings for Offices, a new smart office solution for hybrid workplaces that enables fast desk and room booking, search and navigation as well as workspace usage analytics.

Infogrid

CEO: Will Cowell de Gruchy

Infogrid seeks to help real estate owners and workplace managers automate and optimize facilities to reduce costs, improve employee productivity and meet sustainability goals with its smart building platform.

The London-based startup in April announced it had raised $90 million in equity funding from SoftBank Group’s second Vision Fund, among other investors, and $30 million in debt financing after growing revenue by five times last year. Infogrid’s platform is used by large real estate firms such as JLL and CBRE as well as the Royal Opera House in London and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service.

Infogrid’s platform gets rid of the need for multiple point solutions by tracking and analyzing data from a wide range of sensors, covering everything from building occupancy and energy usage to indoor air quality and water consumption.

Litmus Automation

CEO, Co-Founder: Vatsal Shah

Litmus Automation helps manufacturers improve operations with an industrial data platform that collects and analyze data from a wide range of sources on the factory floor.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup announced in February that its revenue grew, on average, by 100 percent for the previous three years and that it expects growth to exceed 150 percent in 2023. The company also announced last November that it had raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by connectivity and networking vendor Belden.

More recently, Litmus Automation in April announced the availability of a digital twin capabilities for users of its Litmus Edge and Litmus Edge Manager solution, enabling manufacturers to use existing data sources to create visualizations and simulations of their operations for uses cases like energy monitoring, predictive maintenance and product optimization.

Memfault

CEO: François Baldassari

Memfault arms IoT device manufacturers with software solutions for monitoring device and fleet performance, debugging issues and shipping bug fixes and features.

In January, the San Francisco-based startup announced that it had raised a $24 million Series B funding round, led by growth equity firm Stripes, to fuel the development of future products and grow the company’s team. The startup’s customers include Bose, Lyft, Airthings and Adhoc Networks.

Memfault’s capabilities include automatic issue detection, which provides real-time alerts for bugs and helps developers determine the root cause using a wealth of data from memory dumps, logs and registers, among other things.

Morse Micro

CEO, Co-Founder: Michael De Nil

Morse Micro is developing next-generation Wi-Fi chip solutions that cover 10 times greater distance and is 10 times more efficient than standard wireless chips with the ability to connect more than 8,000 devices on a single access point.

The Sydney, Australia-based startup last year raised 170 million Australian dollars ($110.3 million) in a Series B round develop new solutions and accelerate the go-to-market strategy for its existing Wi-Fi chips and modules. The company’s customers include wireless networking solution vendor Silex Technology and wireless communication provider Asia RF.

Morse Micro’s chips are based on the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi HaLow standard, which enables wireless connectivity with ultra-long range, ultra-low power and massive capacity for IoT devices.

SecuriThings

CEO, Co-Founder: Roy Dagan

SecuriThings wants to improve the way organizations manage and protect physical security devices with a platform that can improve uptime, reduce costs, ensure compliance and safeguard against cyber threats.

In February, the Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup announced the launch of its new managed service platform that allows managed services providers to manage, visualize and maintain fleets of physical security devices using a single interface. This was announced after the company raised a $21 million Series B funding round last year.

From a single pane of class, SecuriThings’ platform provides real-time visibility into the operational health and security posture of devices, smart alerts for when there are policy violations and other anomalies and remote management capabilities such as firmware upgrades and device restarts.

Spot AI

CEO, Co-Founder: Tanuj Thapliyal

Spot AI seeks to help organizations improve the way spaces are managed and secured through an intelligence video surveillance system that provides real-time insights from new and existing cameras.

Last November, the San Francisco-based startup announced that it had raised a $40 billion Series B funding round led by Scale Venture Partners after growing revenue five times last year, thanks to new business from customers with thousands of locations across 17 different businesses in the United States.

Spot AI’s system consists of software that makes it easy to search video footage and derive AI-powered insights, an Intelligent Video Recorder, and premium IP cameras that come free with a software license. However, Spot AI’s software and hardware can work with any security camera brand.

Xage Security

CEO: Duncan Greatwood

Xage Security is helping organizations protect industrial environments from cyberattacks with a zero-trust security platform that enables identify-based access management, remote management and data exchange.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup announced in April what it called an “industry-first multi-layer identity and access management solution,” which provides granular access control for industrial systems across multiple sites. The company last year raised a $40.2 million Series B funding round.

Earlier in the year, Xage Security announced that Kinder Morgan had selected the company’s zero-trust and data security products to improve the oil and gas giant’s security posture. In January, the company said it was expanding business operations to the Middle East after previously raising capital from the venture arm of Saudi Aramco.