According to a recent report by ReportsnReports, the worldwide market for Internet of Things (IoT) was worth $16.3 billion in 2016. Touted to be the next Industrial Revolution, the IoT market is expected to reach $185.9 billion in 2023. C3 IoT, a market leader in the space, has recently joined the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club.

C3 IoT’s Journey

Redwood City, CA-based C3 IoT was originally founded in 2009 as C3 Energy by Tom Siebel, former Oracle Executive and founder of CRM company Siebel Systems, which went public and was acquired by Oracle for $5.85 billion in 2006.

C3 Energy provided data analytics for smart electric grids, but soon large manufacturers and retailers started approaching the company to use its platform in their environments. So in early 2016, it rebranded itself as C3 IoT and expanded its industry portfolio to include manufacturing, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, transportation, healthcare, retail, commercial services, and public sector.

Today, C3 IoT provides a full-stack IoT cloud-based development platform that allows the rapid design, development, and deployment of enterprise-scale big data and IoT applications. It leverages telemetry, elastic cloud computing, analytics, and machine learning to apply the power of predictive analytics to business value chains. C3 IoT also provides pre-built SaaS IoT applications including predictive maintenance, fraud detection, sensor network health, supply chain optimization, investment planning, and customer engagement.

Its customers include energy companies like Enel, Exelon, and Engie as well as Cisco. C3 IoT won a $25 million contract last year to track energy use by the US State Department at more than 22,000 facilities around the world.

The company has 120 employees and covers the regions of North America, EMEA, APAC, and China.

C3 IoT’s Financials

According to Harbor Research, C3 IoT has estimated annual revenue of $50 million and about a 40% share of the global smart meter market. It covers over 70 million devices and sensors including more than 80% of European smart meters. It competes with GE’s Predix, MapR, Microsoft -backed startup Pivotal, Siemens AG, SAP, IBM, and Uptake.

AWS is a key technology and channel partner for C3 IoT, which accounts for the majority of its sales. It also partners with consultants and integrators like McKinsey, Capgemini, and Accenture to manage the change in business process required for customers to leverage the C3 IoT Platform.

C3 IoT has raised $122.61 million from investors including Breyer Capital, InterWest Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, TPG Growth, Thomas Siebel, Wildcat Venture Partners, Pat House, Bolt Innovation Group, and Constellation Technology Ventures. In March this year, it raised $11.8 million in a Series E round led by Breyer Capital at a valuation of $1.4 billion. In September 2016, they had raised $70 million in a round led by the TPG Group at an undisclosed valuation.