You may have heard, the Internet of Things is coming…
In fact, the ‘IoT’ is already here. It may still be in its infancy, but that Nest thermostat on your wall? That’s IoT. And the Fitbit activity tracker on your wrist? That’s IoT.
A recent report suggests that total spending on IoT will climb from $69.5 billion in 2015 to $263 billion in 2020. This is due to the expected number of inter-connected devices rising from 4.9 billion in 2015 to 25 billion by 2020. In other words, IoT is going to be a large part of our lives.
We’re proud to have already invested in some awesome IoT startups, like Teddy the Guardian – the cute baby-monitoring teddy bear, Krak – the social network for skateboarders empowered by an inconspicuous hardware, and Winnow Solutions – the food waste “smart meter” helping their customers save money and the environment. As the scene continues to grow, we expect to talk with many more IoT startups in the near future.
In an attempt to help strengthen the London and Cambridge IoT ecosystems, we’ve partnered with Tech City UK to support the IoT Launchpad. We’ll be providing suitable Launchpad winners with match-funding, business support and mentorship.
But we want to do more!
Welcome to Seedhack
Seedhack is our bi-annual hackathon, hosted at Campus London. It’s fun, intense, and this year the theme is… IoT! Bet you didn’t see that coming (a bit like the flying fish…)
We’ve partnered with several exciting hardware companies to provide our ‘Seedhackers’ with the tools to build some really awesome prototypes:
- Smartables, powered by a team specialised in building innovative IoT devices, is a growing platform made of low-cost, battery-powered BLE wireless devices that are Cloud connected out of the box
- Estimote is bringing the most popular iBeacon™ compatible hardware on the market and their brand new Beacon stickers
- iMakr will be providing up to three best-in-class 3D printers from the world’s leading printer manufacturers
We’ll be announcing more partners nearer the event and will have more details about the many fun things we have planned for the weekend!
The challenge
IoT is an incredibly exciting area because the scope for its application is so varied. So whether you’re developing a home-automation app or are 3D-printing a prototype, Seedhack’s technology partners and expert mentors will be on hand to help make it happen.
We’re moving into an exciting era of inter-connected devices. But what will it look like?
Apply to Seedhack and help shape the future of IoT!
Seedhack is Seedcamp’s annual hackathon, held at Campus London. 2015’s theme is Internet of Things. Seedhack will run during the weekend of 23-25th January 2015. Apply by 13th January 2015 to join the fun!