Internet Of Things: Building a Connected World Through Powerful Technologies
Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most prominent technology trends, IoT is disrupting both the consumer (retail, healthcare, and services) and industrial sectors, such as transportation, water, oil and gas, agriculture, and manufacturing. In the manufacturing sector, the business of extracting and transporting oil and gas is filled with challenges. There are several drivers of growth for this sector. A report by McKinsey mentioned that the number of businesses that use the IoT technologies has increased from 13% in 2014 to about 25% today. And the worldwide number of IoT-connected devices is projected to increase to 43 billion by 2023, an almost threefold increase from 2018. The IoT cloud platform market is expected to grow from US$ 6.4 Bn in 2020 to USD$ 11.5 Bn by 2025. The IoT solution segment has dominated the overall IoT monetization market.
The trend in the market is expected to continue both as a result and an impetus of constant technological advancements. The pandemic, along with our lives, has also affected the way this trend is developing. In a world where work from home is a norm, more intelligent automated scheduling and calendar tools, as well as better quality, more interactive video conferencing, and virtual meeting technology will be required while working remotely. Healthcare witnessed a drastic change in the way it is delivered from telemedicine to smart wearables to sensors.
IoT is not just a technology initiative anymore, after the worldwide lockdown imposed by the pandemic businesses will look for ways to improve efficiencies. The emphasis on the business outcome from implementing has increased significantly IoT initiatives are no longer driven by the sole purpose of internal operational improvement.
Industry Performance in the Recent Years
The global market for Internet of things (IoT) end-user solutions is expected to grow to $212 Bn in size by the end of 2019. The technology reached 100 Bn in market revenue for the first time in 2017, and forecasts suggest that this figure will grow to around 1.6 Tn by 2025.
Key Highlights
• In 2021, there are more than 10 billion active IoT devices. In 2019, around 127 new devices per second connect to the web.
• It’s estimated that the number of active IoT devices will surpass 25.4 billion in 2030.
• 83% of organizations have improved their efficiency by introducing IoT technology.
• The amount of data generated by IoT devices is expected to reach 73.1 ZB (zettabytes) by 2025.
• In 2018, 57% of businesses adopted IoT in some way. By the end of 2021, the figure should hit 94%.
VC Investment Sentiments
VCs poured close to $11.1 Bn in IoT companies in 2020, though the deal count was less the total was on 2018 level. Majority of the drop came from early stage VC deals, which fell to its lowest since 2016. At the product category level, the IoT-compatible chipsets, manufacturing & supply chain, connected vehicles, smart home, and IoT security segments each raised over $1 Bn in VC, driving the year’s total deal value.
Instead of a sole value driver IoT is more suited for driving diversified software and hardware companies. Business dealing in connectivity devices, energy and utilities and connected commercial real estate witnessed sharp increase in funding. Each segment drew over 2x gains in deal value YoY, although each was dramatically affected by the pandemic.
The IoT industry set VC exit records in 2020, achieving $14.0 billion in total value across 61 exits. Exit values have never crossed $4 Bn in previous years. The star of the show was C3.ai, which had a record $3.4 Bn IPO in the US market. 2020 was also a strong year for M&A activities with 48 deals valuing up to $2.8 Bn. IoT hardware, IoT software, and connected buildings generated most of the activity.
Segment-wise Analysis of Performance and Opportunities
○ IoT Hardware and Devices
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The IoT hardware includes sensing devices that have the capabilities to collect and route data to enable control and communication through the internet. Continuous innovations in chipsets, sensor systems, and connectivity devices for IoT networks, may result in an innovator’s dilemma for the incumbents. However, startups have an advantage as they can experiment and develop freely. The reducing cost of production for IoT hardware and greater connectivity are driving the market. Moreover, as the devices are becoming cost efficient, it has encouraged their adoption and innovation.
It is estimated that the IoT hardware market constitutes nearly 48% of the total IoT industry and would reach $271 Bn by the end of 2021, growing at a CAGR of 12% during 2021–2026. The segment had a positive response from VC investment last year, raising over $2.5 Bn. During the pandemic, China was in particular the driver of deal flow in the segment. The custom chips for IoT applications witness higher inflow of funds from China compared to the USA.
One can capture great market opportunities within the segment by focussing on future possibilities for growth in Tiny ML microcontrollers and battery sensors. It is projected that the Tiny ML device market would grow at a CAGR of 41% from 2021–2024. Some startups that are already focussing on this opportunity are Arm, Greenwaves, Syntiant, etc.
○ IoT Networking Infrastructure
The IoT network connects the device data to cloud networks. The segment is expected to witness growth as the governments across the world provide incentives for building smart cities, and enterprises prefer novel networking for asset tracking and predictive maintenance.
So far, the segment is expected to grow with a CAGR of 17% from 2020–2022. The investment deal activity has relatively plateaued in 2020, but still managed to raise over $500 Mn last year. Majority of the VC investments have inclined towards 5G technology. Some firms that appear to benefit from growth in 5G are EdgeQ, Blue Danube, Siklu, among others. However, the pandemic has delayed the execution and deployment of 5G technology.
○ IoT Software Solutions
IoT softwares enable various functions throughout the IoT value chain. These include connectivity routing, application enablement, device management, data management and analytics, etc. Analytics is required in almost every field today. Therefore, IoT devices with abilities such as sensory data, AI and ML algorithms will witness a huge market opportunity.
The market for IoT software is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% from 2021–2024. However, the share of the segment in total market for IoT is expected to decline over time as more processing shifts onto the devices themselves. AI and ML play an important role in driving the segment due to its widespread adoption. It is suggested that startups will be able to provide improvements in the area by upto 10x, making it a competitive marketplace. Some companies that are already working in this direction include C3.ai, SparCognition, FogHorn, Noodle.ai, among others.
○ IoT and Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 includes IoT technologies that facilitate the growth of smart capital intensive industries, including manufacturing, agriculture, energy and utilities. Such technologies are largely implemented to empower autonomous equipment operations.
The segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of about 23% during the period 2021–2028. The VC investment in the segment remained strong even during the pandemic due to faster adoption of digital operation in capital-intensive industries. There are several opportunities within this segment that are expected to witness fast growth in the coming years. These include asset-tracking, drones, predictive maintenance using ML, among others. Samsara, CloudLeaf, Embention, Clobotics are some companies that will benefit through their operations in these areas.
○ Smart Services and Infrastructure
IoT can be a great help in offering smart assistance through smart healthcare, connected mobility, smart cities and other consumer services. These innovations will also favour the goals of sustainability and positive environment impact.
The market is expected to reach $200 Bn by 2021 and is projected to grow at the annual rate of 13%. Investments in connected services, particularly healthcare and vehicles have grown even during the pandemic. The demand for vehicle connectivity is expected to grow in the future as it is suggested that 60% of vehicles will have vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity (V2V) by 2023. Some companies that are expected to progress in the smart mobility and smart healthcare services segment are Kymeta, Smartdrive, Whoop, etc.
Industry Outlook and Key Limitations
Large internet of things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) security companies can be built across segments of the edge device value chain as well as for individual device types. However, IoT-focused platforms are limited in addressing the leading use cases for IoT security spending including manufacturing, natural resources, and transportation given devices’ limited connectivity to the cloud.
To overcome the industry’s concerns, security incumbents will be expected to address IoT security across the value chain and across product kinds. To date, security software providers have sought to address the IoT security opportunity with point solutions that aren’t tailored to specific industry threats. As a result, IoT security adoption is still low and uneven across organisations. More comprehensive vulnerability assessment and communications security capabilities will be included in future XDR platforms. As a result, we expect infosec incumbents to continue to improve their IoT security capabilities throughout the value chain.
This article has been co-authored by Ayush Dugar and Tamanna Kapur, who is in the Research and Insights team of Torre Capital.
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