Arduino collects a 30 million euro investment round to grow in the industry. The company born at the Interaction design institute in Ivrea as a simple open source tool for rapid prototyping, which was lucky among students and “makers”, the digital artisans that were talked about a lot a few years ago, now takes a leap of ladder to enter factories.
«Arduino has made a name for itself in schools, to experiment by taking its first steps in electronics. Today those students, generation Z and millennials, have entered the industry and bring that experience and knowledge with them – Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino, of which he is also president and marketing manager, explains to Sole 24 Ore. When we intercepted this change, with a new generation of engineers using Arduino with machines, we started with our own strength to make ad hoc products that resisted the stimuli of the factory. To achieve this evolution more fully, however, new resources and partnerships were needed ».
The nature of the investors responds to this strategy: the Series B round is led by Bosch venture capital, a subsidiary of the German Bosch, and includes among others the Japanese Renesas, which produces chips, the American investment fund Anzu and the technology partner Arm .
Arduino a few years ago had been at the center of a legal dispute with one of the co-founders, resolved in 2017 with the purchase of 100% of Arduino AG, the company that owns all the Arduino brands, by BCMI, a company founded by 4 of the 5 co-founders: Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, David Mellis and Tom Igoe. With CEO Fabio Violante and Arm’s support as a technology partner.
The company has an international presence: the registered office is in Switzerland, but of the 149 employees, the majority is in Italy. “We have 95% of production between Ivrea and Biella – underlines Banzi – then an important presence in Malmo, Sweden, dedicated to education products, and in other countries, including the United States”.
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