In September, Amazon announced the launch of a dozen new Echo products to make your home as connected and techy as Tony Stark’s manor. This echoes (excuse the pun) a wider trend taking the home appliance industry by storm, whereby every device becomes “smart” or “connected”. Sure, being able to switch on the kettle with your phone or turn up the heating on your way back home from work are delightful comforts – especially as winter is coming (cue Game of Thrones theme). But the internet of things (IoT) can have a much bigger impact than just making menial tasks more fun.

Indeed, transport and industry corporates can really benefit from using connected devices to track and optimise their operations on a massive scale. One of the brilliant newcomers in this space is rated startup Juconn.

This Munich-based startup develops turnkey IoT software enabling big corporations, such as industrial and transport companies, to track and monitor the condition of critical assets and high-value products. Juconn provides the core network architecture along with the backend and mid-tier software. It also sources hardware components when the client has no IoT infrastructure. For instance, a company that produces high-end quality musical instruments uses the software to track the delivery of its products in real-time. Another interesting use case is in the agricultural sector, as the company claims its software can be used to monitor how much fertiliser is needed, optimising crop growth while also protecting the environment from the overuse of chemicals.

Juconn came in the top 5% of the 2,000 startups we have rated so far and was even among the top 3% of all IoT startups at the time of rating in August 2018. “The major contributors for the outstanding results have been our product, go-to-market strategy and the management,” said the startup’s CEO, Sven Dunker. Indeed, our analysts were impressed by the way Juconn has unlocked new use cases through joint ventures. The management team is also very promising as it displays a strong business network and high awareness of the competitive landscape.

This last point is bound to be critical. The B2B IoT market is already very competitive, and therefore Juconn will have to make sure it stays ahead of the game if it is to win market share from the industry’s heavy hitters. However, its dependency on certain clients and providers represent a risk to its future growth. Hopefully, the startup will manage to diversify its providers and commercial leads in the future and avoid suffering from these dependencies.

Juconn is now looking for funding so we wish all the team the best of luck in raising funds and look forward to following their growth.