GK Goh joins US$25m Series B round of IoT startup UnaBiz

SINGAPORE-BASED Internet of Things (IoT) service provider UnaBiz has secured US$25 million in a Series B funding round led by Japanese asset manager SPARX Group and joined by Singapore-listed investment company GK Goh.

UnaBiz said that this round has tripled its valuation, but declined to share specifics. According to data platform VentureCap Insights, the startup was previously valued at US$36.5 million in 2019.

Tokyo-listed SPARX made the investment via its Mirai Creation Fund II, a US$700 million fund focused on innovative tech, with backers including Toyota Motor Corp and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Other investors in the Series B round are CDIB Capital Group, a venture and private equity firm in Taiwan, and Thai Oil, the largest refinery and supplier of petroleum products in Thailand. CDIB invested via its fund, CDIB Capital Growth Partners.

Goh Yew Lin, managing director of GK Goh Holdings, said that UnaBiz's IoT solutions have been deployed at scale by major clients in Asia-Pacific. "Even during the pandemic, the team successfully won contracts in new industry verticals and expanded its geographical footprint. We are pleased to join new and existing shareholders to support UnaBiz's next phase of growth," Goh said.

Launched in 2016, UnaBiz specialises in sensor product design, manufacturing, and cloud platform services using technologies such as Sigfox, a wireless network that can connect low-power devices and sensors.

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WIth a focus on asset management and smart city applications, such as smart metering and facilities management, UnaBiz has deployed sensors in 28 countries. Projects it has serviced include Japan's largest remote gas meter reading infrastructure, an autonomous tracked beer kegs fleet in Australia and New Zealand, and facility management for a Singapore educational institution.

UnaBiz will tap the fresh capital to strengthen its presence in Japan, South-east Asia and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region, via M&A and local offices. Asked about the type of M&A targets it is looking for, the company said that it is eyeing "vertical experts who have a proven track record with their solution deployment in South-east Asia or Europe".

UnaBiz's founder and chief executive Henri Bong said: "The IoT industry has become too fragmented and it is our mission to simplify it and eradicate frictions to truly enable massive IoT, from 0G to 5G."

Shuhei Abe, president and chief executive of SPARX, said that UnaBiz has made significant progress in the past year. "We are impressed by its rapid and sustained growth, especially how it delivered one of the largest and fastest smart gas metering projects in the region, despite the Covid-19 pandemic," Abe said.

William Ho, President of CDIB Capital Group, likewise said that UnaBiz has "achieved compelling growth in the region over the last 18 months despite the pandemic".

Luck Saraya, managing director of Thaioil's TOP Ventures, said that the startup fits all of its three focus areas: industrial tech, sustainable tech, new mobility and energy tech.

UnaBiz previously raised over US$10 million in Series A funding led by Japanese venture firm Global Brain, via its KDDI Open Innovation Fund. Three months ago, UnaBiz set up a new office in Japan through Invest Tokyo, a programme by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government supported by the Japan External Trade Organisation.

The startup was recently selected for an accelerator in Japan under the Global Innovation Alliance, an initiative of Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Economic Development Board, run by Leave a Nest Singapore.

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