Sibros Attracts $70 Million Investment To Grow Its Over The Air Update Platform

Not quite four years into its existence, tech company Sibros is attracting the attention and millions in investments and new business from the tech and auto industries as it works to solve the vital issue of simplifying over the air updates and data collection for onboard telematics and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

The next big step in the San Jose, Calif.-based company’s growth was announced Thursday—a $70 million Series B funding led by Energy Impact Partners (EIP) with participation from Fontinalis Partners, Google
GOOG
, Iron Pillar, Qualcomm Ventures and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Moneta Ventures.

“We’ve ironed out our business model. It’s working well. We’ve got our product ready and deployed with multiple customers and it’s giving them the value we would have liked for them to have and beyond,” Sibros co-founder and CEO Hemant Sikaria told Forbes.com in an interview. “Now we’re in a place where need to replicate our success in more markets, in more industries, in more geographies, in more segments and that is the primary goal with this fundraising to expand our presence and support customers that have a global footprint.”

The Sibros “secret sauce” is its Deep Connected Platform, which makes it possible for an automaker to provide over the air (OTA) software updates to all of vehicle’s systems and getting them to work in concert. 

Deep Connected Platform handles what Sikaria terms the “foundational pillars” of a connected vehicle: the ability to perform over the air software and configuration updates to every component, collect high-quality, event-driven data from the vehicle and transmit user-facing diagnostic commands that a service engineer could use to track down or repair a technical issue.

As automakers add capabilities to ADAS technology providing some features of autonomous driving, Sikaria sees increased opportunities and urgency for his company’s technology.

“It adds more layer of demand for what Sibros is doing because all of the revenue opportunity these ADAS companies have hinges on it being integrated into the vehicle and actually adding value. For it to add value it has to be constantly monitored, data has to be collected and software updates have to be pushed not just to just autonomous driving software but to other modules that they interact with,” Sikaria explained.

In conjunction with its participation in the new funding round, EIP Partner Shawn Cherian will join the Sibros board of directors.

“Our investment in Sibros aligns with our pursuit of partnering with companies that solve unique challenges at the intersection of mobility and electrification,” Cherian said in a statement.

Regarding other key participants, Sikaria said each plays an important role in the further development and expansion of Sibros.

In the case of Detroit and Boston-based automotive venture capital investment company Fontinalis Partners, Sikaria noted that company’s extensive automotive industry connections and experience will be helpful, declaring “We’re very excited to get their help and guidance in growing the company, in making new connections, in finding the right people for certain roles we have.”

Sibros had already established a relationship with Google, running on its cloud platform since the company’s inception in 2019. Sikaria looks to broaden that relationship to work with additional automakers “and partner with them to bring an integrated solution with Android to the market.”

Sikaria also looks to Qualcomm’s broad presence in the automotive space to assist Sibros in expanding market for Deep Connected Platform noting “ I think 60% of all telematics units use their hardware.”

Prior to this latest announcement Sibros landed two major deals involving companies producing solar electric vehicles and electric scooters.

Earlier this month Sibros announced its Deep Connected Platform is now running on the Chetak electric scooter produced by India-based Bajaj Auto with the intention to eventually roll it out over the entire Bajaj fleet.

“Bajaj makes 3.5 million units a year. It’s kind of similar to the Ford name and Ford family in India,” Sikaria said. “Bajaj is already getting a lot of traction with other manufacturers in Asia because the name is well recognized and well respected.”

In November Sibros announced an agreement with The Netherlands-based solar electric vehicle manufacturer Lightyear.

“They’re utilizing our entire platform for doing software updates, data collection and command management,” Sikaria said.

He’s not tipping the company’s entire hand just yet, teasing there are new customers he’d “like to share over the next six-to-nine months.”

It’s all about building Sibros’s business and global reach, so it’s no wonder Sikaria smiles when he states, “we’re keen to grow.”