TeleSense, a grain storage and transportation monitoring startup, announced today that it has acquired Webstech, a Danish food storage sensor company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
We covered TeleSense back in August of last year when the company raised a $6.5 million Series A round of financing, writing:
TeleSense is basically an industrial internet of things (IoT) company that uses a combination of wireless sensors and data tracking to help improve the food supply chain. TeleSense is initially focusing on grain storage and food transport, with its sensors continuously monitoring elements such as temperature and humidity. Using TeleSense’s cloud-based analytics platform, food producers can detect and be notified of anomalies or other problems early, and take action to prevent food spoilage.
TeleSense CEO Naeem Zafar told me by phone last week that the acquisition of Webstech has a number of payoffs for his company. First, Webstech does much the same thing and is already an established player in Europe, giving TeleSense an immediate extension and foothold on that continent. Second, and equally important to Zafar, Webstech has collected a rich data set of more than 60 million records. All this data can be fed into TeleSense’s algorithms and analytics platform for increased knowledge and performance.
As part of the deal Webstech will become TeleSense Europe and Webstech CEO, Thomas Kylling, will be that office’s General Manager, supporting existing European customers and heading up European expansion.
TeleSense is going after a pretty niche market (grain storage monitoring) and the acquisition of Webstech will go a long way towards making it an even bigger player in the narrow space. The addition of European customers adds to TeleSense’s existing pilot programs in the U.S. and Australia. The company has also opened an R&D facility in Vietnam.