These organizations are improving processing speed and reliability by deploying computing power closer to where data is created.
With the global proliferation of internet-connected devices, efficiency in data transmission and processing is becoming increasingly crucial.
While cloud computing has traditionally served as a reliable and cost-effective means for connecting many of these devices to the internet, the continuous rise of IoT and mobile computing has put a strain on networking bandwidth.
Edge computing technology is now emerging to offer an alternative solution.
It involves placing computing resources closer to where data originates (i.e. motors, pumps, generators, or other sensors) — or the “edge.” This reduces the need to transfer data back and forth between centralized computing locations, such as the cloud.
According to the CB Insights Market Sizing tool, the global edge computing market is estimated to reach $6.72B by 2022.
Although nascent, the technology already provides a more efficient method of data processing for numerous use cases — including autonomous vehicles.
Telsa cars, for example, have powerful onboard computers which allow for low-latency data processing (in near real-time) collected by the vehicle’s dozens of peripheral sensors. This provides the vehicle with the ability to make timely, autonomous driving decisions.
However, other edge technologies, such as wireless medical devices and sensors, lack the necessary compute capacity to process large streams of complex data directly. As a result, smaller, modular data centers are being deployed to provide hyper-local storage and processing capacity at the edge.
These data centers are typically the size of a shipping container and are placed at the base of cell towers, or close to industrial facilities.
Using the CB Insights platform, we surfaced 5 notable private market companies deploying these modular data centers at the edge.
We selected these companies based on the recency and size of their disclosed funding and their Mosaic score, CB Insights’ algorithm that uses financial and non-financial signals to predict private company health.
All of the companies on our list are currently private and active. We have listed them in order of most recent funding.
For a deep dive into what edge computing is and why it’s taking off so fast, read our explainer, What is Edge Computing?
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