Analysts estimate the global Internet of Things (IoT) market to grow 29% annually over the next few years to become a $457 billion industry by the year 2020 from $157 billion in 2016. Redwood City-based C3 IoT is a leading player and a Billion Dollar Unicorn member in the sector.

C3 IoT’s Offerings

C3 IoT was founded in 2009 by billionaire entrepreneur Tom Siebel. Prior to founding C3 IoT, Tom had founded Siebel Systems, which was bought by Oracle in 2006. After the sale of Siebel to Oracle, Tom became an investor and a philanthropist. As part of this tenure, he decided to build software to help electric grids manage energy flows to homes. By 2009, he had raised $20 million from his friends and contacts to set up C3 Energy. But within a year, Tom was involved in a terrible accident that needed a two-year long recovery. Once he recovered, though, the macro conditions had changed. Oil prices had fallen, and there was a global economic meltdown. C3 Energy was nearly bankrupt.

That did not put Tom out of the market. He restructured the organization and spent the next two years focusing on collecting and analyzing data from sensors and industrial machines. He was ahead of the curve when IoT was being born. By 2016, he rebranded C3 Energy to C3 IoT and became a full-stack IoT cloud-based development platform provider. It expanded from the energy sector to address the manufacturing, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, transportation, healthcare, retail, commercial services, and public-sector enterprises.

Today, C3 IoT’s platform enables organizations to design, develop, and deploy enterprise-scale Big Data and IoT applications by leveraging telemetry, elastic cloud computing, analytics, and machine learning. It provides pre-built SaaS IoT applications including predictive maintenance, fraud detection, sensor network health, supply chain optimization, investment planning, and customer engagement to its customers. It has become the world’s leading provider of Big Data, IoT, and AI applications that helps organizations with their digital transformation objectives.

C3 IoT has also been entering into strategic partnerships with several cloud providers. Its most recent engagement was with Microsoft where it entered into an agreement that will let the two companies collaborate to improve AI and IoT application development. Together, they will focus on co-selling and co-marketing their offerings.

C3 IoT’s Financials

C3 IoT is privately held and does not disclose detailed financials. Its revenues were estimated at $50 million in 2016. Last year, it reported a 65% growth over the year, translating to revenues of $82.5 million. Its profitability figures are not known, but the company admitted that it was cash flow positive.

It has raised $243 million in funding so far from investors including Breyer Capital, InterWest Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, TPG Growth, Thomas Siebel, Wildcat Venture Partners, Pat House, Bolt Innovation Group, and Constellation Technology Ventures. Its last round of funding was held in January this year, when it raised $100 million at an undisclosed valuation. An earlier round held in March last year had valued the company at $1.4 billion. The company plans to use the latest round of funding to grow into new industries and countries.

Questions for C3 IoT’s Board

Given the latest influx of funds and the desire to expand in newer markets, I am curious if the company is looking for acquisitions in markets like India? The IoT space is a booming industry among the Indian startups as well. According to a market report, the Indian IoT market is estimated to grow to $15 billion by 2020. SaaS players have an unprecedented opportunity, and C3 IoT may benefit from exploring some rough gems in the Indian market.