IoT platform Particle acquires hardware developer RedBear

Particle, the Internet of Things (IoT) platform, has acquired RedBear, an IoT hardware development company based in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China.

Particle’s first-ever acquisition is designed to help any developer or enterprise bring real IoT solutions to market faster, marking a significant step in the company’s growth as a full-scale IoT organization.

Particle’s acquisition of RedBear’s design and development capabilities is part of the company’s core strategy of investing in innovation that accelerates business for IoT builders working at any stage, from prototyping to full-scale deployment.

RedBear was founded in 2012 and successfully fundraised early products on Kickstarter, building a loyal developer community alongside an acclaimed product.

The RedBear team will add expertise in building Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Wi-Fi-enabled IoT hardware to Particle’s growing product lines. RedBear CEO Chi-Hung Ma will lead Particle’s development team in China.

“Particle is committed to building the best team in the business to enable anyone to create IoT solutions that produce real value,” said Zach Supalla, Particle co-founder and CEO.

“The RedBear team impressed us with their track record of enabling IoT makers to bring their ideas to life in a third of the time and a tenth of the cost as in the past.

“This acquisition enables Particle to bring new products to market faster and scale to meet soaring demands for IoT connectivity, adding valuable expertise from the heart of the electronics industry in Shenzhen.”

Particle recently partnered with RedBear to develop and manufacture Particle Mesh, its next-generation portfolio of Mesh development kits that enable IoT systems to cover more ground and capture more data with higher reliability at a reduced cost.

Particle Mesh debuted in February and sold over 20,000 units in the first month of pre-orders. RedBear’s previous developments also include cloud platform partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ARM Mbed.

“Particle and RedBear share the same laser focus on creating connected solutions that help product creators at any stage create value with IoT,” said Chi-Hung Ma, CEO of RedBear and Particle Director of New Product Development.

“Becoming part of Particle will expand our team’s resources to build innovative hardware solutions that better connect anything to the internet. We’re already at work on more game-changing products and look forward to sharing them soon.”

Particle will support customers of RedBear’s DUO and Nano hardware through 2019.