Crosser raises €3 million to further advance its low-code streaming analytics platform for Industrial IoT
Stockholm March 9, 2021 — Crosser, the leading low-code platform for streaming analytics, automation and integration for industrial IoT, has announced its latest funding round of €3 million in new capital. The round was led by NTT DOCOMO Ventures and Montan-Ventures-Saar, with existing investors Industrifonden, Spintop Ventures, 42 Cap, Almi Invest and Norrlandsfonden also participating.
Gartner reports that low-code technologies will remain on a strong trajectory for 2021 and beyond, as it enables companies to rapidly build and deploy use cases without reliance on professional programmers.
“The complexity of IoT makes the skills barrier higher than in most other enterprise verticals. We like to argue that the value of low-code platforms is even higher for industrial companies,” says Martin Thunman, CEO and co-founder of Crosser. “With this financing round we aim to bring more innovative low-code solutions to the market, all aimed to help industrial companies move faster in their digitalization journey by putting the power of innovation in the hands of non-developers, often called citizen developers.”
Crosser has a unique hybrid architecture that allows companies to innovate centrally with a low-code approach, while also helping them to easily deploy the software anywhere, on the edge, on-premise or in the cloud. The hybrid architecture combines the best of two worlds: the simplicity of modern cloud technologies and the secure and low-cost processing of data close to the data source, on premise or on an edge device.
NTT DOCOMO Ventures is the investment arm of NTT Group, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. NTT Data, another NTT Group entity, is one of the world’s largest systems integrators. Telecom companies and enterprise system integrators are two major stakeholders industrial IoT.
“We believe that the visual programming capabilities that Crosser’s low-code platform offers can play a key role in accelerating the adoption of industrial IoT,” says Takayuki Inagawa, President and CEO of NTT DOCOMO Ventures. “We look forward to partnering with Crosser to promote digitalization processes of manufacturing companies, both in Japan and globally.”
Montan-Ventures-Saar is a venture firm with roots in the Saarland Steel industry in Germany. As the ventures arm of the Montan-Stiftung-Saar trust it invests in disruptive technologies along the process industry.
“In our own steel companies, we experience the challenges and complexities of industrial IoT,” says Reinhard Störmer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Montan-Stiftung-Saar. “The combination of the low-code approach and the ability to run the Crosser streaming analytics platform in production processes is key to enabling fast and secure innovation in this field.”
Martin Thunman concludes: “In addition to continued investor support, having two new investors onboard will bring deep industry understanding to the table, giving us access to even more markets.”
To learn more about Crosser and its edge solutions, visit https://crosser.io/
Ends: 455 words
About Crosser Technologies
Crosser is a Swedish software company with installations in over 20 different countries. We design and develop a Low-Code software platform for Streaming Analytics, Automation and Integration for any Edge, On-premise or Cloud. Our aim is to remove complexity, simplify development and to enable non-programmers to innovate faster with a dramatically lower total cost of ownership. Our vision is that there are enormous business opportunities for companies When Machines Talk(™).
The software is ideally suited for Enterprise customers of various Industrial verticals such as Process Industry, Manufacturing, Utilities and other asset rich verticals. The modular and flexible solutions enable many different applications, including Industry 4.0, Industrial IoT and next generation Hybrid Integration, also called Hyper Automation by Gartner.
Industrial customers include, SCA AB, Valmet Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Gebhardt, Clarebout Potatoes and RubbleMaster.
Crosser was included in the “Cool Vendors in IoT Edge Computing, 2018” report by Gartner, Inc. and was named among the Top 10 Smart Factory Solutions in Europe 2020 by the industry magazine Manufacturing Technology Insights.
About NTT DOCOMO Ventures
NTT DOCOMO Ventures, the NTT Group’s corporate venture capital firm, aims to accelerate innovation for creation of new services, disruptive technologies and innovative processes serving as a primary channel for startup companies and venture communities on behalf of the NTT Group, Japan’s leading ICT service provider. We proactively enhance cooperation with exceptional entrepreneurs on a worldwide scale by providing capital from our corporate venture funds and vast business development opportunities with the NTT Group companies.
https://www.nttdocomo-v.com/en/
About Montan-Stiftung-Saar and Montan-Ventures-Saar
Montan-Stiftung-Saar is the owner of SHS – Stahl-Holding-Saar GmbH & Co KGaA. It is thus the indirect owner of Saarstahl AG and the majority shareholder of AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke. In addition, the Montan-Stiftung-Saar trust owns a venture company with which it participates in start-ups with new business models. Montan-Ventures-Saar (formerly SHS Ventures Steel) drives the venture activities of the Montan-Stiftung-Saar. The foundation’s arm, established in 2016, aims to identify and develop new business areas in order to be able to actively participate in current developments.
Montan-Ventures-Saar – English (montan-ventures.de)
About Industrifonden
Industrifonden is a venture capital investor based in Stockholm, Sweden, with a Technology and Life Science portfolio that stretches across the Nordics.
About Spintop Ventures
Spintop Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm supporting the best Nordic technology companies to scale. Spintop is run by a team with extensive international technology industry track records as entrepreneurs, executives, investors and advisors.
About 42CAP
The 42CAP investors Alex Meyer and Thomas Wilke invest in seed stage companies with global ambitions. With eCircle they previously built one of Europe’s largest SaaS start-ups and sold the profitable company to Teradata (NYSE:TDC) in 2012. The 42CAP credo Peers amongst Entrepreneurs is reflected in their investment approach, with which they support data-and technology-driven business models, product-focused founders and sustainable venture development. This background is appreciated by founder personalities, such as Nicolas Reboud (SHINE, Paris), Inigo Ijuantegui (Ontruck, Madrid), Gregor Stühler (scoutbee, Würzburg), Ben Askew (Packlink, Madrid) and Alex Igelsböck (Adverity, Vienna).
About Almi Invest
Almi Invest is Sweden’s most active startup investor. Almi Invest manages a total equity of SEK 3 billion and has since start invested in about 600 startups. Our best holdings have been divested to major industry players such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Qlik or through successful IPOs such as Tobii and MIPS. Almi Invest is a Venture Capital company within the Almi Group.
About Norrlandsfonden
Norrlandsfonden is a trust fund that works to promote the development of companies with ambitions for growth in the counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Västernorrland, Jämtland and Gävleborg in northern Sweden.
Contact
CEO and co-founder, Martin Thunman
www.crosser.io