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Connectivity and connected networks are part and parcel of how many devices and services operate today, thanks to innovations and expansions in mobile networks, on-device processing and the cloud. But behind the scenes, there remains a lot of fragmentation: different regions, technologies, tariffs and devices can spell a lot of work for enterprises or service providers that want to leverage that connectivity in any cohesive way.
A startup called Monogoto that has built a platform based on software-defined connectivity to help manage that work, and now it is announcing $27 million in funding.
Underscoring the demand for its “connectivity as a service” technology, the Series A is heavy with strategic backers. Toyota Ventures (the venture arm of the huge carmaker) is leading the round, with participation also from new investors Samsung Next, Kickstart, Assembly Ventures, Magenta, and J-Ventures; and previous backers The Singtel Group, Telefónica, Team8, Alter Venture Partners and Triventures.
Monogoto has raised a total of $38 million to date, and it is not disclosing its valuation with this round.
A number of startups that have identified the gap in the market for improving how connected devices actually connect to networks, and it’s a ripe market. The fact is that we have multiple carriers around the world each with their own tariffs, not to mention different wireless technologies. This means that when an enterprise is running a fleet of, say, cars or drones or phones; or a services business wants to provision a service that spans multiple geographies or networks, they have to figure out how to stitch together patchworks of coverage. (Others in the general area that we’ve covered include Cubic Telecom, FloLive, Airalo, and Wirepas.)
The notable point about Palo Alto-based Monogoto is that the company tackles that challenge with a software approach that it’s managed to scale to a very large size, spanning 180 countries and 550 networks — which include public cellular networks, private LTE or 5G networks, and satellite networks.
Itamar Kunik, the CEO who co-founded the company with Maor Efrati (CTO), worked for nine years on telecoms infrastructure projects for the Israeli military’s 8200 intelligence unit, where he saw first-hand how tricky it was to get services to work consistently across networks, despite the solutions already out on the market to orchestrate connections. It was after leaving 8200 and working at Fring, an early player in mobile messaging apps that was also trying to figure out how to work more efficiently on legacy mobile networks, that he had his a-ha moment inspired by another startup.
“Twilio was rising, and we were banging our heads,” he recalled. And then, he said, he had a realization: Twilio was not a telephony company. It was an API platform for developers. “This is what we should do, we said, but for the next wave of need. That next wave is connectivity.”
Thus Monogoto was born.
The company today works with businesses across areas like asset tracking, smart metering, fleet management and telematics for vehicles, point of sale device providers, retail, healthcare, and micromobility, covering both devices that work with network management services based on hardware like SIMs, or software.
End users are typical customers, but so are carriers that are increasingly hoping both to launch and run their own connected services, but also those who provision connectivity solutions on behalf of enterprises. The use cases themselves might most typically be involving devices like phones, vehicles and drones, but sometimes they are a little more organic than that. One customer is using Monogoto’s network to help track and manage thousands of cattle — they have little trackers on their ears — roaming across plains that are covered by a mix of network technologies.
“Enterprises have long sought an infrastructure that can truly facilitate connectivity on the new age—and Monogoto is leading this shift with its software-defined, accessible, and affordable solution,” said Chris Thomas, co-founder and partner at Assembly Ventures, in a statement. “We’re excited to partner with their visionary team to break down barriers for innovators, creating continuous connectivity that will ultimately disrupt the way we live and work.”
