Bengaluru home to 55% of India's Internet of Things start-ups

With the advent of cheap broadband, Internet of Things is the new tech frontier, and Bengaluru is playing a preeminent role in taking the world there.

The city is home to more than half of all startups working in the area.

Of the 971 IoT start-ups in India, 536 are registered in Bengaluru, according to the IoT Startup Directory 2017, a joint initiative between TiE Bangalore and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA).

The national capital region, including Delhi and Gurugram, comes a distant second with 108 IoT start-ups, followed by Mumbai (65), Pune (63) and Hyderabad (49).

In fact, the whole of the United States had just 12 start-ups in the IoT space as on October 8.

IoT is explained as a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators.

Pioneer state
Karnataka holds the unique distinction of rolling out the first startup policy of the country, even before the central government could roll out one.

According to a survey published last week, Bengaluru beats even San Francisco in terms of confidence to perform digital transformations in its immediate environment.

The city's talent pool gives it an edge over other cities, experts say.

"The IoT space is driven by three factors -- talent, market and funding. When all three coexist, it creates a sweet spot for global innovation centres," Vivek Belgavi, partner and India fintech leader, PwC, told DH.

Panasonic's innovation hub opened in Bengaluru earlier this year. Bosch and Phillips also have innovation hubs in the city.

Venture capital support

The city is also known for its venture capital firms. While N R Narayana Murthy, senior statesman of the IT industry, has started Catamaran Ventures, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani owns the Fundamentum Partnership, in collaboration with Helion Ventures co-founder Sanjeev Aggarwal.

The venture capital fund, started in July 2017, has a target corpus of $100 million (Rs 650 crore) to invest in startups.

Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has also invested extensively in startups.

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IoT's brave new world

Internet of Things refers to the networking of devices that can be connected via the Internet.

Its philosophy is that your life becomes easier when gadgets get talking among themselves.

An IoT scenario: Your watch wakes you up, and instructs your coffee machine and toaster to prepare breakfast for you. Your car figures out the best route to work, fixes your subsequent appointments. On the way back, your air-conditioner is switched on 10 minutes before you reach, ensuring that your drawing room is cool by the time you reach home. And so on and so forth…

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India strides 2014: 123
2015: 275
2016: 470
Now: 971

(IoT start-ups today) USA: 12 (IoT start-ups today)