STACUITY: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

stacuity is an Isle of Man based IoT business that is primarily focused on building a comprehensive set of telecoms technologies, such as a programmable mobile network, developed with the aim of having more intelligent control of mobile connectivity.

Following our initial meeting with stacuity last year, we followed up with Mike Bromwich stacuity’s Founder and CEO/CTO to find out more about what they have been up to and their business goals for the coming months.

What have been your challenges and experiences over the past 6 months?

As anyone who has done it will tell you, building a new business is never easy. There is always so much to do, the clock seems to tick by very fast and there is a limited pool of people/money to make things happen. Unsurprisingly then, the last six months for stacuity have certainly been demanding… but it has also been exciting, rewarding and fun! We have developed our technology so that it is now market-ready and, most importantly, we have managed to bring together a team of awesome people with deep experience and complementary skills.

Tell us about your business offering, what is your solution and what problem does it solve?

stacuity is a technology business focused on the global, growing, valuable Internet of Things (IoT) market. IoT is a broad label for a multitude of connected devices, such as smart meters, cars, air quality sensors, telecare alarms, vending machines and payment terminals, which collect data and send it to software applications for analysis. SIM cards using the global mobile network are often used to provide the necessary data connectivity for such IoT applications.

At stacuity we have built a revolutionary set of telecoms technologies which will enable IoT developers and end customers of IoT solutions to control and secure this essential mobile connectivity, with unparalleled flexibility. We call this our programmable mobile core network.

The beauty of our solution is that it puts the customer fully in-control of the mobile connectivity that they are using, in a similar manner to how customers purchase cloud services.  So, for example, if they want to set-up a virtual private network for their SIMs to enhance privacy and security, they can do so themselves via our API or portal. Normally, this type of configuration takes weeks and costs thousands of pounds. With stacuity, customers can change configurations in real-time, as many times as they want, for the cost of our monthly subscription (which is less than £1 per SIM per month).

Do you have any plans to expand your business offering in the near future?

Yes! In the next few weeks we will launch our first programmable SIM card. This will enable IoT developers and enterprise customers to use our programmable mobile network to power the data connectivity in their IoT solutions. Our programmable SIM will work on more that 500 mobile networks around the world, in over 200 countries. 

As well as supporting our own branded SIM card-based service, we also offer partners, such as mobile operators and IoT connectivity resellers the ability to use our powerful control technology on a white-labelled basis. This allows them to innovate more effectively for their own customers and create more valuable, differentiated IoT connectivity offerings.

Has your business been positively or negatively impacted by new emerging technologies, such as AI?

We see exciting potential for synergy between our programmable mobile core network for IoT and other emerging technologies, such as AI, machine learning and blockchain.

For example, our comprehensive API offers machine learning developers unsurpassed visibility of everything that happens within the mobile network, meaning that they can build more powerful models based on access to richer suites of data. What’s more, our intelligent network can be programmed to send data from different devices to different back-end applications for analysis, depending on the needs of the use case.  So, stacuity can enable IoT customers to generate more value from the data that they connect.

Similarly, we are also well positioned to exploit synergies at the intersection of IoT and blockchain. When we use the term blockchain, we are not referring to cryptocurrencies, we are referring to the use of blockchain technology to add value to IoT solutions. There are various exciting potential use cases which are emerging, such as the simplification of roaming fee settlement, the immutable (permanent and auditable) storage of critical IoT sensor data and the securing of data flows to/from low power IoT sensors. We recently announced a partnership with a leading innovator in the blockchain space, Minima, to explore just such opportunities: stacuity announces partnership with Minima.

Are you exclusively based on the Isle of Man? Do you plan on expanding your team?

We are an online business with our team working from home. This has allowed us to assemble a world class team – and so inevitably, some of our team is off-Island. However, the Isle of Man is very much ‘home’ and we expect our current Island-based team of nine to grow significantly in the coming year.

What are your plans for the future?

Across the Spring and Summer will continue to add new features to our SIM, based on customer feedback. It will become the most powerful IoT SIM on the planet!           

In parallel, we are actively engaged already with a range of potential customers, who are interested to use our programmable mobile core network to power their operations, on a white-labelled basis. Our technology is globally scalable, so we have a large and growing target market to aim for. Within a few years, we plan to be supporting millions of IoT SIMs around the world, with our advanced technology.

On the finance side, we are currently engaged in our second Angel funding round. We are grateful for the support provided so far by our excellent investor group and look forward to generating rewarding ROI for them.

If you are interested in learning more about stacuity or investing with us please reach out https://www.stacuity.com/get-in-touch/