CTHINGS.CO, a Polish startup specializing in creating innovative solutions in the area of 5G, IoT sensor networks and cloud applications, has raised €4.5 million for international expansion. The funding round involved Orlen VC, PKO VC, Freya Capital and an existing investor, Level2 Ventures. CTHINGS.CO will use the raised capital to accelerate expansion in foreign markets, build international structures and further product development.
CTHINGS.CO specializes in building 5G, IoT, and edge computing solutions for Industry 4.0 and organizations managing distributed data acquisition infrastructure. They cooperate with global mobile operators and cloud infrastructure providers. The company has been actively acquiring customers and executing contracts in Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Spain and Poland.
Arnold Wierzejski, CEO of CTHINGS.CO, said: “The investment comes at a crucial time for us. We are seeing increased interest in our products and services from the European and US markets. Industrial 5G networks are becoming a reality, and our solutions are a perfect fit to address the needs that exist there. The investment consortium is a group of the largest investors from the CEE region, and we are very positive about further cooperation on several levels – technological, business and financial. We are planning further technological development, business expansion and the establishment of international partnerships. Our priority is to take a key place in the 5G technology ecosystem of the industrial sector.”
The company’s portfolio includes the 5G Suite system for real-time collection of data from distributed IoT sensor networks and efficient remote management through the Orchestra Platform; hardware such as the 5G IoT Gateway for the collection and simultaneous local processing of large portions of data; and CLASP – a sensor system for monitoring the safety and position of moving objects. The system also allows for analysis, visualization and reporting of collected data.
Zbigniew Barwicz, from Freya Capital, commented: “For the past few years, we’ve noticed a rapid growth in the global market for IoT Gateway device applications, something that we, at Freya Capital, are very excited about. It is estimated that the market will grow at a rate of nearly 60% per year between 2023 and 2030, and is expected to reach around $250 billion in 2026 alone. The integration of connectivity across an increasing number of devices is one of the main drivers of the rapid adoption of IoT solutions in the global economy, and we see CTHINGS.CO as a potential leader in this market. We are very impressed with the company’s management team and believe that with the support and funding they have received, they will be able to achieve numerous successes.”
Marek Garniewski, from Orlen VC, added: “Our investment in CTHINGS.CO is an example of generating value across ORLEN Group’s innovation ecosystem. Together, we are already implementing a pilot project related to a system for monitoring water effluent at the Plock refinery, as well as a proof-of-concept project for testing an ecosystem of 5G network technologies and services, launched through our ORLEN Skylight innovation accelerator. Our capital commitment to CTHINGS.CO is not only the result of our good cooperation to date. We are supporting this start-up because we are seeing a growing interest in smart solutions for industry in Poland and Europe, and the Polish company is effectively responding to these needs and has good prospects for further growth.”
