ThingWorx co-founder and ex-CEO Russ Fradel has a new startup, along with some other ThingWorx alumni.
In mid-July, Augmentir, Inc., a provider of augmented worker software for industrial companies, announced it had exited stealth and closed an oversubscribed funding round. The round was led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippeau, current investors, and HOLT Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of HOLT CAT. All heavy duty investors. The amount hasn’t been publicly disclosed.
Although the PR was datelined Horsham, the company appears to be based in Irvine, California, though a few of its early associates are in the Philly area.
Ty Findley, Vice President at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, said, “With our thematic focus on Industry4.0, we are excited to be working with a company that is accelerating the industrial sector evolution using AI and AR to support frontline workers. From founding efforts at Wonderware, Lighthammer, and ThingWorx, the Augmentir team has a proven track record and domain experience delivering software innovation to the manufacturing and industrial market, and we are eager to participate as Augmentir continues to shape the frontline workforce of the future.”
ThingWorx, an industrial IOT startup based in Exton, was funded by Safeguard Scientifics, and later bought by PTC for over $100 million in 2013. PTC proceeded to build its strategy around ThingWorx and other acquisitions in the space.
The same team has worked together on previous successful startups, including Lighthammer that was acquired by SAP.
Rick Bulotta, another ThingWorx co–founder, now works on Microsoft’s IoT strategy.