Actility, Elmodis, Teamable and Darkstore enjoy funding hauls

13 Apr 2017

Image: ImageFlow/Shutterstock

Start-ups in IIoT, machine monitoring, novel recruitment and even delivery have made waves this week, raising more than $86m between them.

Deep into its funding journey, LPWA (low-power wide-area) networks operation Actility raised $75m in a Series D round this week.

The money will help Actility to expand its industrial internet of things (IIoT) solutions in logistics and supply chain, smart buildings, and energy and utilities.

Creadev, Bosch and Inmarsat are among the new investors, alongside existing ones such as Idinvest Partners, Bpifrance, Ginko Ventures, KPN, Orange Digital Ventures, Swisscom and Foxconn.

A second closing later this month will see additional strategic investors joining the company in support of this over-subscribed capital raise, which was achieved by Actility without involving banks.

“It will also allow us to accelerate our strategy for the US, and build strength in China,” said company CEO Mike Mulica. “And last, but by no means least, it will enable us to look at strategic acquisitions to broaden our technology portfolio and cement our leadership in LPWA.”

Elsewhere, Elmodis, a start-up looking at machine communications to protect against any dangerous malfunctions, raised $4.9m to bring its total funding past the $5m mark.

Industrial machines often operate in difficult or suboptimal conditions, with workload and immediate environment concerns often putting a strain on operations. Elmodis monitors machine performance to protect against any problems and, by extension, improve efficiency.

To do this, it uses an electrical motor sensor, which the company co-founder Marcin Święch claims is easy to install and cheap to run.

“We can build analytical models for diagnostics of any machine powered by an electric motor in very little time. At the moment, we focus on pumps, fans and conveyor systems that are mainly used in manufacturing,” he said.

In the US, Darkstore has just raised $1.4m in seed funding, with PivotNorth Capital continuing its investment in delivery start-ups.

As reported by TechCrunch, the deal sees PivotNorth Capital CEO Tim Connors join Darkstore’s board of directors. Darkstore now aims to expand to seven markets, launching its service in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.

Finally, Teamable, a start-up using social media monitoring to help companies secure talent that otherwise might slip through the gaps, raised $5m in a Series A round.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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