Rigado, a nine-year-old Portland, Ore. startup that builds commercial IoT products and services, sold a portion of its business to Swiss wireless company u-blox.
Rigado sold off its Bluetooth Module business, a group that builds hardware components to enhance wireless connectivity and make it easier to link up Internet of Things devices, the companies said Wednesday. As part of the deal, Rigado CEO Ben Corrado and six other Rigado employees will join u-blox’s Short Range Radio product strategy team. Rigado’s Salem, Ore. office will become a North American engineering center for u-blox.
In a post on LinkedIn announcing the deal, Corrado said Rigado co-founder Justin Rigling will stay on at the startup and lead its technical vision as chief technology officer, and Greg Rau will step into the role of president. Going forward, Rigado will focus on its “edge-as-a-service” solution providing connectivity for smart buildings, asset tracking, connected retail, and other applications.
“We’re very proud of both our market-leading modules division and Rigado’s fast-growing edge infrastructure gateway business,” Rau said in a statement. “The value we capture from the acquisition of the modules division will allow us to further accelerate Rigado’s growth in the gateway market — especially in key solution areas such as smart building and asset tracking.”
Rigado was founded in 2010 and it raised a lifetime total of $20 million, including a $15 million Series A round just over a year ago. It has amassed more than 300 customers around the world for its edge-as-service products and connected more than 5 million commercial IoT devices.
Rigado has offices in Portland, Salem, London and Shenzen, China.
