The Spanish group Telefónica has taken one more step to develop the machine-to-machine (M2M) business. The telecom operator announced a joint investment with La Caixa in addFleet, a company specialized in making intelligent systems for transportation. AddFleet is preparing the international launch of a communications service based on M2M and cloud technology.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters
The $3.86 million (€3 million) investment was made by Telefónica Digital, through its venture capital division Telefónica Ventures, and La Caixa, through Caixa Capital TIC, its venture capital manager’s specialized digital technology fund.
The investment is intended to promote the commercialization of addFleet’s products worldwide.
AddFleet, a startup company, seeks to create more sustainable and efficient transportation networks. Among its developments, addFleet has released a new mobility system based on cloud computing that uses mobile devices to connect vehicles to taxi dispatch centers and users with M2M technology.
The company was created in Barcelona in January 2012 and is currently running a pilot test of the platform with 200 vehicles in several countries in Europe and Latin America. AddFleet has also signed an agreement with Telefónica to include its product in the telecom company’s worldwide portfolio of M2M products.
The investment in addFleet is Telefónica Ventures’ first in Spain after making investments in other international technology companies such as Quantenna, Joyent and Boku.
In July, seven carriers—KPN; NTT DoCoMo; Rogers Communications; SingTel; Telefónica, through its Telefónica Digital unit; Telstra; and Vimpelcom—agreed to partner on roaming and the development of other M2M services.
At that time, Analysys Mason noted the agreement is another indication of the rapid, multi-national growth of M2M, which the analyst firm forecasts will hit 124.4 million device connections by the end of the year. If achieved, that would represent a new 2.1 billion connections this year, or a 37% compound annual growth rate.
