Embedded connectivity startup Blues Wireless (Blues), today announced a $32 million Series A1 funding round led by Positive Sum, and including new investors Four Rivers, Northgate, and Qualcomm. Previous backers Sequoia, Cascade, Lachy Groom and XYZ also participated.

By using the Blues Notecard and Notehub, businesses can quickly, securely, and cost-effectively connect their physical products to the cloud via a cellular network (LTE Cat 1, LTE Cat M1, or NB-IoT).

• The Notecard is a low-code data pump embedded within a customer’s products.  The Notecard combines prepaid cellular connectivity, low-power design, and secure “off-the-internet” communications in one 30mm x 35mmSystem-on-Module.
• The Notehub routes that data to the customer’s cloud.  A hosted service for securely routing Notecard data to your cloud application of choice. Manage fleets of devices, update host and Notecard firmware over-the-air.
• Serving enterprise customers and developers alike, Blues is a hyper-scaler focused on 5G cellular Internet of Things (IoT).

“Even in these difficult economic times, enterprises will not hesitate to invest in transforming their physical products to be capable of remote monitoring and control,” said Ray Ozzie, Founder and CEO of Blues (inventor of Lotus Notes). “To date, connecting products to the cloud using cellular has been a time-consuming and expensive endeavor, fraught with risk. Complexity kills. Blues has taken a unique, developer-centric approach that simply eliminates complexity, from device to cloud, enabling products realistically to go from prototype to scale deployment in months instead of years.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Blues. They are well positioned to create an inflection point in IoT,” said Alison Davis Riddell, Partner at Positive Sum. “Blues is clearly the culmination of Ray’s life’s work, bringing to bear all of his experience and passion. The company has strong market signal, with rapid growth and demand from some of the world’s leading companies to connect their products to the cloud securely, economically, and with unprecedented speed. Having worked directly in the IoT space for six years, I can confidently say that Blues’ approach is unlike anything we’ve seen, and the opportunity is tremendous.”

Blues will be exhibiting at CES in Las Vegas (Booth #10752, North Hall) from January 5-8, 2023 with the message that any company can cloud-connect their product using cellular. Customers and partners will be alongside Blues in a shared exhibit space to demonstrate their industry-changing products, and to discuss the Notecard’s and Notehub’s role in helping them to win in the market.

Blues Wireless (Blues) is a hyperscale cellular IoT solution provider founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Ray Ozzie. Their flagship products, Notecard and Notehub, work together to provide a complete high-scale device-to-cloud data pump. Blues reduces the cost and complexity of building connected products by including provisioning, security, and cloud device management as standard features, with the simplicity and flexibility enabling it to be incorporated within new and existing designs. More than 800 forward-thinking companies, from startup to enterprise, use Blues to securely cloud-connect their products.

Email [email protected] or visit blues.io for more information.

	Image	Manufacturer Part Number	Description	Supplied Contents	Available Quantity	View Details
		NOTE-WBNA-500	NOTECARD, LTE CAT 1 (N AMERICA)	Board(s)	95 – Immediate	View Details
		NOTE-WBEX-500	NOTECARD, LTE CAT 1 (EMEA)	Board(s)	122 – Immediate	View Details
		NOTE-NBGL-500	NOTECARD, NB-IOT/LTE-M (GLOBAL)	Board(s)	99 – Immediate	View Details
		NOTE-NBNA-500	NOTECARD, LTE CAT M1 (N AMERICA)	Board(s)	123 – Immediate	View Details

References:

https://blues.io/

https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/b/blues-wireless/notecard-cellular-modem-som