Agtech Robot Tortuga AgTech helps growers by using robots that perform a variety of labor-intensive tasks in controlled environments like greenhouses or vertical farms, with an emphasis on harvest. Denver, Colorado, USA Founded Eric Adamson was working in consulting for “very large agribusinesses around the world” before co-founding Tortuga AgTech in 2017 with colleague and automation engineer Tim Brackbill, now … Read More
Co-creating values aligned agreements with founders for impact investing
Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2, 1. 2020 was the year we all became suddenly aware of the interconnectedness of our global challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how climate change, health disparities, racial discrimination, housing injustice, population displacement, and other factors all act and interact in … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: Zipline Medical Logistics
Medical Logistics Zipline is a medical product delivery company that is changing the way medical supplies are delivered throughout the world Founded Before Zipline, the was founded in 2011 by Keller Rinaudo, initially under the business name Romotive which was a robotic toy controlled by an iPhone. Romotive continued production of the toy through 2014 until it was shut down … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: Philips Monitoring-as-a-Service
Enterprise Monitoring Philips provides monitoring capabilities aligned to use and acuity, which means the level of monitoring based on the severity of illness. Monitoring-as-a-service as an offering promises to be more financially-friendly and more aligned to hospital performance goals. Founded It was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik, in Eindhoven, Netherlands to manufacture light bulbs. Funding Koninklijke … Read More
Manufacturing-a-as-Service and the launch of Resilience, the Company
#xaas EVERYTHING-as-a-Service The vaccines might be here, but how will we scale manufacturing? One of the earliest canaries in the Twitter mine back in January was Bob Nelson, one of the most successful biotech investors and managing partner of Arch Venture Partners. From his perch, he was able to extrapolate the exponential growth of COVID19 and understand what was about … Read More
The Prize and Price of Connected Things
This series explores the variety of ways established companies and incumbents adapt digital business models for devices and hardware. “The wearables market is not the real prize,” says a team of economists (Bourreau et all 2020) in a position paper directed at The European Union in their evaluation of the Google acquisition of Fitbit. The big news this morning comes … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: Vivint Home
Smart Home Systems Vivint Smart Home develops smart-home technology as a complete service and system. Founded Founded as APX Alarm Security Solutions in 1999, the company originally sold and installed third-party security systems, but in 2011 rebranded as Vivint Home and pivoted toward their own smart-home solutions. They spun off Vivint Solar in 2014. Funding Vivint has been shaped … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: Fenix International
Solar Home Systems Fenix International Inc. designs and manufactures and distributes solar panels, energy storage, and appliances. Founded Founded in San Francisco 2009 by Michael Lin and Brian Warchawsky to improve energy and telecommunications access for off-grid consumers. Funding Fenix International raised money on Kickstarter through crowdfunding and an additional $16 MM in venture capital before being acquired by France-based … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: Bigbelly
Smart Waste 60,000 solar-powered and remotely managed trash compactors; combined with sensors and connectivity. Bigbelly provides more efficient and sustainable waste collection operations through a cloud-based IoT connected platform. Founded Founded as the Seahorse Power Company Inc. in 2003, began as a company with intentions of developing solutions for geothermal power plants and offshore wind energy. The focus shifted to waste management … Read More
Connected Things Business Models: British Gas Boiler IQ
Connected Utilities Proactive boiler and other service maintenance that uses sensors to predict when you will need support for British Gas in key regions within the United Kingdom. Founded Founded by Frederick Albert Winsor and incorporated by Royal Charter on 30 April 1812 under the seal of King George III, The Gas Light and Coke Company was the first public utility … Read More
