Spark takes major shareholding in Adroit to enhance IoT

Spark has announced that it will take a significant shareholding in IoT company Adroit, which will enhance IoT solutions for potential customers of both organisations.

As part of the new development, Adroit will also appoint two Spark-nominated directors on their five-person Board.

Spark says the strategic investment into Adroit reinforces their commitment to IoT as a key future growth market for the business, with organisations across NZ seeing significantly increased demand for these types of solutions.

This also links closely to Spark's three-year strategy identifying IoT as a future market. The company experienced first-hand the rise of IoT, with the last financial year revealing that Spark's IoT connections grew 83%.

This investment will also focus on sustainability, with Spark accelerating the adoption of sustainable monitoring solutions to enable healthier, more environmentally friendly communities through the power of IoT.

Spark and Adroit previously worked with Mercury NZ for its real-time water quality monitoring solution for its Waikato River catchment.

Measurements are taken every hour and transmitted to the Adroit Platform via the Spark CatM1 network, which is a specialised 4G network designed to work at very low power and in remote areas with limited coverage.

Spark IoT Lead Tony Agar says the new business deal will see better outcomes for a variety of enterprises, and the company's history with Adroit cements the combined strength of the partnership going forward.

"This investment strengthens an already successful partnership and will help us accelerate the adoption of sustainable monitoring solutions to enable healthier, more environmentally friendly communities through the power of IoT," he says.

Adroit CEO Blair Stewart agrees and says it will help meet the increasing demand for effective IoT solutions.

"We're seeing significant demand for IoT environmental monitoring as businesses become aware of the technology's capabilities and benefits.

"Spark's investment in Adroit and our close partnership enables us to meet this demand while continuing to operate as a specialist player.

They say that the deal will help a variety of enterprises, ranging from local government initiatives to family-owned ventures.
Spark technology director Mark Beder also says the strategic investment into Adroit reinforces Spark's commitment to IoT and hopes it will help create further growth opportunities.

"Our three-year strategy identifies IoT as a key future market, and in the last financial year Spark's IoT connections grew 83%. We hope this significant investment in Adroit will enable us to accelerate this growth even further.