CARLSBAD – Trident IoT, a silicon provider and RF technology company, announced it has raised $10 million in funding, launched a new AI company, and is preparing to release a product in January.
The one-year-old startup will use the funding to expand its silicon/hardware solution development, engineering support, and certification readiness. CEO and co-founder Michael Lamb said the company isn't looking for more capital, it's looking for talent.
CEO and co-founder
trident IoT
The latest funding round was led by Todd Pedersen, Founder and CEO of Vivint Smart Home, who will join the Trident IoT Board of Directors. The company has raised $6.7 million from industry players and previous investors ahead of its April 2023 launch.
The company focuses on the full spectrum of Internet of Things (IoT) and connectivity platforms, including wireless communication protocols Z-Wave, Zigbee, Thread, Matter, LoRa, and more.
“Different types of industries have their own protocols, and we operate in all of those worlds,” Lamb says. “If we want to build a LoRa sensor, we create a sensor that can communicate with all other devices. If you're in a Z-Wave world, we can communicate with a security system where a door lock can communicate with a thermostat. We manufacture chips that do this.
Products with the end user in mind
Lamb said the small startup competes with giants like Texas Instruments and Microchip Technology, but Trident IoT stands out because it was designed with the end user in mind. Ta.
“We are the only company that offers all the tools from concept to certification,” he said. “From start to finish, we can reduce engineering time from 18 to 24 months to six to eight months for the same product, reducing manufacturing costs and getting it to market faster.”
For example, if a client wants to build a smart thermostat, Trident IoT will design the board layout, schematics, code, RF tuning and other tools to create it, Lamb said.
“What's different about Trident is that we've built thousands of these devices,” Lamb said.
The company initially focused on companies manufacturing devices with Z-Wave technology. Z-Wave technology is primarily used in smart home networks to allow devices to connect with each other and exchange control commands and data.
“Trident IoT is committed to innovation, combined with our deep expertise in wireless and RF technologies, creating a unique ability to accelerate IoT development,” said Pedersen, who announced the $10 million investment in Trident. , the company says, “can change the landscape of connected device technology.”
Lam, who has founded and sold six startup technology companies, said the roots of Trident IoT stemmed from a visit to the Z-Wave Alliance booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last year. .
At the booth, Lam said he was approached by representatives from Silicon Labs, which had exclusive rights to the $130 million annual Z-Wave product market. At the time, Silicon Labs was dealing with post-pandemic supply chain issues that made it difficult to get Z-Wave products to customers.
Lam said Silicon Labs donated Z-Wave's intellectual property to the alliance and asked them to work together to become a second source of supply for customers.
“They were hoping someone could get up and running quickly,” he says. “That's how we started. They saw me as a little guy who wasn't a big threat to them.”
The Z-Wave Alliance recently recognized Trident IoT as an official Z-Wave device certification test lab.
AI and long-range technology
Trident IoT was co-founded by Chief Technology Officer Mariusz Malkowski and Bill Scheffler with a focus on simplifying RF development, increasing product success rates, and reducing time to market for connected device manufacturers. I did.
To support these goals, Trident IoT has developed artificial intelligence tools that can quickly create schematics and board layouts and provide the code needed to build products. They can also advise consumers on details such as battery and antenna placement.
Lam said that as the technology was developed, the company realized it could be used by other engineers outside of its own company. Trident AI was launched in March as a separate company that provides AI tools developed by Trident IoT.
“These tools we are developing are far too powerful to be used with Trident IoT,” Lam said.
In April, Trident IoT announced the release of its new Taurus Z-Wave series of silicon solutions. It supports the latest advancements in Z-Wave technology, including Z-Wave Long Range (ZWLR), which can transmit over 1 mile.
Lam said potential uses for the technology include monitoring grain feeders on farms, which is currently done using the most expensive cellular technology.
In broader applications, this long-range technology can be used in homes and offices for smart devices currently on mesh networks. Smart devices rely on signals between devices and must consume battery power. ZWLR uses point-to-point signals without repeaters to relay the signal.
The Taurus series and other products are scheduled to be mass produced and shipped in January. The company will initially issue samples of the Taurus series to selected partners for initial testing and product development.
trident IoT
Established: 2023
CEO: Michael Lamb
Headquarters: Carlsbad
Business: RF technology and engineering
Funding: $16.7 million
Number of employees: 27 people
Website: https://tridentiot.com, https://tridentai.co/
Highlights: Trident CEO Lamb has designed more than 400 wireless products for senior customers such as Comcast, RING, United Technologies, DSC, and Nortek.
