A $200 million funding round led by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank gave a little-known California-based semiconductor startup a boost in the nascent logistics chip space.
SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund 2 led the investment in Wiliot, a four-year-old startup with presence in Australia, Germany, Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. Previous investors include Amazon Web Services and the venture capital arms of Samsung and Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo.
SoftBank’s investment marks a boost for Wiliot, says Mario Morales, group vice president of enabling technologies and semiconductors at market research firm IDC. “Most of these guys have gotten not as much funding as this one,” he notes. “Most of them are running out of money.”
Wiliot, whose stamp-sized chips are designed to allow object identification on a mass scale, could benefit from cross-pollination with the Vision Fund portfolio’s e-commerce and logistics companies, analysts say.
“Vision Fund is spraying billions of dollars on tech firms, and the flow of cash appears almost limitless,” says Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. “Wiliot could potentially work with other Vision Fund investments such as Coupang or Flipkart for leaner e-commerce logistics.”
Wiliot’s encrypted and cloud-enabled chips connect products that move through global supply chains in crates, packaging and on pallets. The startup has raised a total of $270 million in venture capital over time and the latest round was over subscribed, says Stephen Statler, a senior vice president at Wiliot. “We’ve seen a consistent level of interest between financial and strategic investors in what we do,” he says.
Attention to autonomous warehouses, robotics and “smart” retail raise interest in object-finder tech, Statler adds. “One of the basics is to have a real-time view of inventory so when (a customer) does show up, you’re not constantly searching for what you want,” he says.
Wiliot belongs to a small high-tech sub-industry that designs chips for object identification akin to QR coding and RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags, says Morales. The global market for this space spans just 10 startups worth a few tens of millions of dollars, he says.
Over five years, Morales forecasts the space will grow to around $2 billion, but led by half the number of companies that are active now. “The logistics chip industry could eventually be measured in the trillions of units, as every product or thing can potentially be tagged with a battery-less, wireless tracker for real-time inventory management of the demand chain,” he says.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
