Balena, an IoT fleet management platform focused on deploying, managing, and scaling fleets of edge computing and AI devices, has secured a strategic growth investment from LoneTree Capital, a New York-based growth capital firm. The companies said the partnership will accelerate Balena’s product roadmap, with an emphasis on Edge AI workloads, expanded security capabilities, and features to meet evolving compliance requirements.
Balena, founded in 2011, positions itself as a hardware-agnostic platform for managing the full lifecycle of connected devices, including provisioning, monitoring, remote troubleshooting, and secure over-the-air software updates. The company said its approach is intended to reduce infrastructure complexity for engineering teams while enabling deployments across a wide range of device manufacturers, avoiding vendor lock-in as edge hardware and AI-capable devices proliferate.
As part of the announcement, Balena said it supports 178 device types and operates fleets in more than 50 countries, with some customers running deployments of more than 100,000 devices. The company said it plans to expand customer success resources and global fleet support in parallel with product development, as enterprises increase adoption of edge computing for AI and IoT use cases.
LoneTree said it is investing based on its view of the long-term growth of the IoT device market, particularly in edge computing applications, and will support Balena as it works to broaden accessibility and scale within the market. The firms did not disclose financial terms of the transaction.
Support: Lincoln International served as financial advisor to Balena.
KEY QUOTES:
“We have strong conviction in the long-term growth of the IoT device market, especially within edge computing use cases, and see Balena as exceptionally well-positioned to continue enabling customers as they utilize edge technology to deploy innovative solutions across a variety of industries around the world. We are thrilled to realize this opportunity to partner with the Balena team, as they advance the product roadmap, making the technology more accessible to a wider audience, and ultimately expanding within this rapidly growing market.”
Matt Koven, Managing Partner, LoneTree Capital
“We’re excited to be taking Balena into the next chapter with a partner who believes in our mission. LoneTree has expertise and experience supporting companies at our stage, and so our decision to partner with them gives us the ability to help more people to leverage the latest AI-enabled edge-computing devices. Balena is the easiest-to-use platform and an accelerator for scaling businesses that utilise these technologies, and now we’ll be able to make the technology even more accessible.”
Chris Crocker-White, Co-CEO, Balena
