Soracom's $120M Raise Signals Shift to Multi-Protocol IoT Connectivity

Soracom's $120M Series D Funds Multi-Protocol Orchestration

Soracom raised $120 million in Series D funding to expand secure IoT connectivity across cellular, low-power wide-area (LPWA), and satellite networks. The investment addresses a specific enterprise pain point: managing IoT deployments that span incompatible connectivity standards as total enterprise connections approach 24 billion by 2030. Enterprise IoT spending hit $324 billion in 2025 with 13% year-over-year growth, driven by buyers demanding hybrid networks rather than betting on a single protocol.

The funding positions Soracom against competitors like Particle, which raised $40 million for platform innovation, and Telit Cinterion, which is pushing 5G NR Release 18 modules. Soracom's approach differs: instead of optimizing for one network type, it orchestrates across cellular (5G mMTC, NB-IoT), LPWA (LoRaWAN), and satellite to eliminate coverage gaps in logistics and remote operations. This matters because 26% of current 5G IoT connections serve logistics use cases where dead zones remain common.

RedCap—reduced-capability 5G devices designed for battery-powered sensors—will grow at an 82% compound annual growth rate through 2030. Soracom's bet is that enterprises won't pick RedCap or LoRaWAN or satellite, but will deploy all three depending on asset location and power constraints. A logistics company tracking containers across oceans and warehouses needs satellite handoff when cellular ends, then switches to LPWA in storage yards where 5G coverage is uneconomical.

Telit Cinterion Advances 5G NR Release 18 for Industrial Edge

Telit Cinterion developed 5G NR Release 18 modules targeting rail asset tracking and industrial edge applications. Release 18 delivers 1-millisecond latency and supports 1 million devices per square kilometer under private 5G specifications. This targets automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and rail fleets where sub-10-millisecond response times justify moving off LTE-M or NB-IoT.

The timing aligns with enterprise connections reaching 22.9 billion in 2026, with rail and factory automation accounting for a growing share. Telit competes with Link Labs' AirFinder, which now uses Hubble satellite gateways to track Bluetooth tags beyond facility perimeters, and with Verizon-Honeywell 5G partnerships for factory automation. The differentiation is performance: Release 18 modules handle mobile edge computing workloads that earlier LTE standards cannot, such as real-time collision avoidance for rail equipment.

Buyers gain budget justification through measurable latency improvements. An AGV fleet operator moving from Wi-Fi to private 5G with Release 18 modules documents response time drops from 50 milliseconds to under 10, enabling denser warehouse automation. This also mitigates compliance risk under the EU Cyber Resilience Act and IEC 62443, which impose stricter security requirements on networked industrial devices.

Wiliot-Databricks Integration Operationalizes Item-Level IoT Data

Wiliot partnered with Databricks to integrate ambient IoT tag data into Databricks' Physical AI lakehouse platform. The partnership governs high-volume, item-level tracking data—individual product tags generating location and condition telemetry—within a unified data architecture. Less than 1% of the 21 billion connected IoT devices currently run edge AI, but that share is growing as enterprises target anomaly detection and predictive maintenance.

The integration competes with Bosch's collaboration with Microsoft Azure IoT for device management, but Wiliot focuses on ultra-low-power tags rather than full 5G modules. This matters for supply chain buyers tracking thousands of pallets or containers: battery-powered ambient tags cost less and last years longer than cellular modules. The Databricks platform enables real-time analytics on tag data streams, accelerating return on investment for the 45% of enterprise IoT devices deployed in supply chain and logistics.

Hybrid connectivity—combining terrestrial cellular with satellite handoff for remote legs—extends this model to global supply chains. A pharmaceutical distributor tracking temperature-sensitive shipments across oceans and deserts needs satellite uplinks where cellular ends, then switches to LPWA or cellular in distribution centers. The Wiliot-Databricks stack processes telemetry from both network types without separate data pipelines.

What to Watch

The convergence of multi-protocol orchestration, Release 18 edge performance, and AI-driven analytics platforms reframes IoT connectivity buying decisions. Enterprises should evaluate vendors on their ability to manage hybrid networks rather than optimize a single standard. Budget allocation should account for RedCap's 82% growth rate and LPWA's dominance in wide-area coverage, but avoid locking into one protocol. The shift from 13.8 billion enterprise connections today to 24 billion by 2030 means dead zones and protocol gaps will break more deployments than hardware failures. Prioritize vendors demonstrating orchestration across cellular, LPWA, and satellite with unified management planes.