Breed Reply, an active operational investor in early-stage Internet of Things (IoT) businesses, has invested in France-based METRON and TAG Sensors, a Norwegian company.
The two companies raised a total of GBP3.75 million from Breed Reply and other investors. These new investments mean Breed Reply’s pan-European investment portfolio of early stage IoT businesses has increased to 20 in a variety of different sectors, including health, industrial IoT, smart buildings and cities, and transportation.
METRON increases Breed Reply’s focus on industrial IoT technology. Energy is a significant cost in many industries and METRON’s technology provides industrial clients with an intelligent network that can better manage energy usage.
The technology provides the virtual mapping of the energy used in industrial processes and big data analytics to allow companies to be predictive and proactive in energy efficiency. By using artificial intelligence and control capabilities, METRON’s platform communicates directly with energy markets and decentralised energy assets to optimise operations in real-time according to context. Its customers include leading manufacturing companies from a variety of energy-intensive industries and METRON also partners with facility managers, utilities and OEMs in Europe, Latin America and the Middle-East.
TAG Sensors platform also offers significant benefits to customers, particularly in the pharmaceutical and food industries, including McDonald’s, where temperature control of goods is vital to ensure product quality. TAG Sensors has developed a market-leading technology using radio-frequency identification (RFID). For the first time, it is possible to have continuous real-time temperature logging of individual products required to be kept at specific temperatures such as food and vaccines. In the food industry, an estimated USD813 billion is lost each year globally from poor cold-chain management and the pharmaceutical industry loses an estimated USD12.5 billion per annum due to temperature fluctuations of products in shipping and storage.
Both METRON and TAG Sensors meet Breed Reply’s investment criteria of companies that combine strong management teams with an innovative technology that solves a real-world problem.
As well as funding, Breed Reply will work closely with management to accelerate both companies’ development to achieve Series A funding and beyond. Last year, one-third of Breed Reply’s portfolio raised more than USD50 million of Series A funding.
The Breed Reply team has significant experience in scaling up early-stage businesses, in-depth understanding of different markets, proven track record in sales channel development and strong technological DNA. They also work closely with Reply Group, a leading consulting, systems integration and digital services company with a market presence all over Europe and the USA to help the investee companies commercialise their products.
Emanuele Angelidis, CEO of Breed Reply, says: “METRON and TAG Sensors are fantastic additions to our investment portfolio. As well as strong management, they have business ideas with long-term potential and technologies that companies are looking for. There is a considerable market for TAG Sensors low cost, versatile and highly-automated solution to the problem of cold-chain management and METRON’s ability to deliver improved energy efficiency to lower costs and meet ever stricter environmental regulations is vital for a multitude of industries. We are looking forward to supporting them to achieve their ambitions.”
Vincent Sciandra, CEO, METRON, says: “This new funding will support the international growth of METRON and increase our ability to roll-out our highly successful energy intelligence platform. Over the last five years, we have helped companies across a variety of industries turn energy efficiency from a static, reactive process into a dynamic, proactive strategy. We are reshaping the way energy data is used. It is a strong endorsement of our technology and potential that Breed Reply has backed us and we look forward to working with them.”
Knut Nygard, CEO, TAG Sensors, says: “There is increasing global demand for our complete solution for cold chain management from leading companies in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. Major brands such as McDonald’s have tested and adopted our system in recent years and this new funding will enable us to expand and make our system available to more and more customers. The addition of Breed Reply as an investor, with its expertise in helping IoT companies scale-up and continued support of Platform Ventures will help us grow, invest more in innovation and seek opportunities in other sensor-based market segments.”
