Sensor data platform startup Samsara is entering 2019 with new $100 million funding for growth acceleration

Samsara, a sensor data platform startup that combine wireless sensors with remote networking and cloud-based analytics, has raised $100 million in new investment to accelerate growth in 2019 and beyond. The funding was led by investors Andreessen Horowitz, a private venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and General Catalyst, according to a blog post on its website.

The San Francisco, California-based startup, which has raised $130M in funding to date, plans to use the new funding to accelerate new technology development in both fleet and industrial product areas, deepen its international presence, and scale sales and support teams to maintain the customer experience as they grow.

As the company sets to usher in new year, Samsara also plans to hire 1,000 new employees to build new products, enter new markets, and support growing customer demand, double down on artificial intelligence and computer vision, building on the success of our driver safety system and bringing AI to new applications, and expand its offices in San Francisco, San Jose, and London, and open our first East Coast hub in Atlanta which will house hundreds of new employees

Founded in 2015 by Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket, Samsara is an Internet of Things (IoT) company focused on providing an integrated portfolio of products that enable customers and businesses to improve the safety, quality, efficiency, and customer service of their operations, with connected sensors and software.  Sanjit and John previously co-founded Meraki, that was born out of their PhD research at MIT and grew to support tens of thousands of customers worldwide. Meraki was acquired by Cisco Systems for $1.2 billion. Under their continued leadership, Meraki became one of Cisco’s fastest-growing businesses. Samsara’s team includes veteran executives and technical leaders from companies including Google, Apple, and Meraki, who bring experience in big data, cloud software, and hardware design.

The impact of connected operations is widely expected to be massive. According to IDC forecasts, the worldwide technology spending on the Internet of Things is expected reach $1.2 trillion in 2022, while McKinsey & Company reports that the economic benefits of linking the physical and digital worlds could be many times higher.

The company currently has over 450 employees in San Francisco, San Jose, and London. Its customers range from small businesses to large enterprises in transportation, field services, energy, food production, and manufacturing. Taking a customer-centric approach to innovation, we’ve built a unique, integrated portfolio of products that enable our customers to improve the safety, efficiency, and customer service of their operations.