Indian industrial IoT company IoTrek raises $154,000 of funding
Delhi-based firm IoTrek Technology has secured $154,000 in seed funding from an undisclosed investor, ahead of a series A round, in which the company will seek to raise $465,000. IoTrek uses its industrial internet of things technology, including smart sensors, wireless networks and analytics platform, for telecommunications, energy and solar grid management. For example, it has developed a smart meter to stop electricity pilferage. It plans to use the seed funding to "develop its product, build the team and scale up operations", according to CEO Piyush Kumar Vishwakarma.
Industrial IoT startup IoTrek raises $154K in seed investment

Delhi-based IoTrek Technology Pvt. Ltd, which provides industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for telecommunications, energy and solar grid management, has secured $154,000 (Rs 1 crore) in seed funding from a consumer goods maker, a top company executive said.

The startup will use the funds, raised in November last year, to develop its product, build the team, and scale up operations, Piyush Kumar Vishwakarma, co-founder and chief executive of IoTrek, told VCCircle. He declined to disclose the name of the investor.

“The beauty of IoT technology is its ability to be customised for different verticals. We started by providing power monitoring solutions for the telecom hardware industry. We then gradually started providing electricity monitoring and solar grid management solutions, with minor modifications on our core technology platform,” said Vishwakarma.

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IoTrek was founded in October 2016 by IIT-Roorkee alumni Vishwakarma, Kamran Alam (chief technology officer) and Prerak Ujgare (chief operating officer). It offers IoT-based smart solutions to improve the efficiency of telecom hardware infrastructure and analyse the performance of solar power grids. The company does this by creating its own smart sensors, wireless networks and analytics platform.

In November 2016, IoTrek was among 20 startups selected for an eight-week accelerator programme by T-Hub, the Telangana government’s startup development initiative in association with Intel, Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and MyGov.

The company counts Tata Communications and Intel among its customers. Vishwakarma did not divulge details about the total number of customers. IoTrek is looking to raise $465,000 as part of its pre-Series A round and has received funding commitments to the tune of $232,000 from potential investors. The company is likely to announce the fundraising within two to three months.

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“Since we are a business-to-business player and have a longer product development and sales cycle, it doesn't make sense for us to raise a Series A round now. Also, we want to keep a low cash burn, achieve organic growth and then go for a bigger round of funding,” said Vishwakarma.

IoTrek is developing products such as a plug-and -play solution for energy management in smart cities and a smart metering application to minimise electricity pilferage and infrastructure inefficiencies. The company is also in talks with partners based out of Europe, who can promote its products.

A number of startups in the broad IoT space have raised funding recently. Earlier this month, enterprise IoT solutions startup Tyre Express Pvt. Ltd raised an additional amount in seed funding from an angel investor.

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In January, TempoGO, an IoT and SaaS-based solutions provider for commercial transportation, raised seed funding from a clutch of investors.

However, last month, Tiger Global-backed mobile technology startup Cube26 shut down its IoT business, which also led to job losses. The firm's flagship smart bulbs, Reos Lite, failed to attract the price-conscious Indian consumer.

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