IoT Connectivity Startup FloLive Raises $15.5M, Led By Intel Capital

Israeli startup FloLive, a company that provides connectivity solutions for IoT chipset and device manufacturers worldwide, announced on Wednesday that it raised an additional $15.5 million investment as part of a Series B financing round.

This brings the company’s total funding raised to $37 million for this round.

The investment was led by new investor Intel Capital, with participation from existing investors Qualcomm Ventures LLC, Dell Technologies Capital, 83North, Saban Ventures and Arie Capital.

Founded in 2016, FloLive provides connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) through a secure cloud-based connectivity enablement platform.

The company intends to invest the new funds in strengthening its technology stack, upgrading its global network to 5G, and building a global SIM2Cloud offering by partnering with a global leading cloud provider.

There has been a fast-growing demand for private 5G networks, FloLive indicated in a statement. This provides customers with a viable alternative to VPN and Wi-Fi connectivity that is more secure and cost-effective than traditional legacy connectivity approaches. Private 5G networks are ideal for enterprises as they offer highly secure and performance-oriented connectivity that is flexible in meeting their corporate IT, quality and security policies. As manufacturing, logistics and healthcare centers are becoming connected and smarter, the virtues of private 5G networks ensure longevity and business continuity, the company said.

“We see significant traction in the market for 5G network solutions, with private 5G networks being the indisputable leading solution for both private campuses and national deployments,” said Nir Shalom, FloLive’s CEO. “While healthcare and Industry 4.0 may be considered the natural customers, one of the emerging sectors is utilities, which is more prone to cyber-attacks, data leakage and foreign espionage; we intend to put more focus on this segment and gain significant market share.”

5G cellular networks are comprised of two major building blocks – the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the Core Network (CN). FloLive’s 5G Core Network can be deployed using Private RAN when in closed campuses and connect to the public RANs deployed by national carriers for national deployments required by national utility companies.

FloLive’s private 5G network is built atop its common Software-defined Connectivity (SDC) infrastructure, a cloud-native framework that provides the flexibility, performance and security required by the IoT ecosystem. Its cloud-native offerings “place the company at an important juncture, raising interest by both global cloud providers and large industry leaders,” the company said in the announcement.

“We are truly excited about floLIVE’s unique cloud-native approach to IoT connectivity,” said David Johnson, managing director at Intel Capital. “Cloud-native architectures bring efficiency, scalability and flexibility which are important for IoT services. In addition, floLIVE’s cloud-based core can provide consistency of features across many independent private and public networks. We look forward to the expansion of floLIVE’s products and services enabled by this investment.”

“We are honored to be recognized by a prestigious investor like Intel Capital as an innovator in 5G platforms,” continued Shalom. “Having Intel Capital’s investment gives us confidence in the road we’re paving towards our global success. Equally important is the continued trust and tremendous support of our existing investors. Together, these are invaluable to our growth.”