Viam is a tool for developing software that comes with the cloud services necessary to prototype and build robots quickly. New York-based startup Viam has landed $45 million in Series B funding to accelerate development and commercialization of its pioneering open software platform for smart machines and connected devices.

The injection of new capital from investors including Union Square Ventures and Battery Ventures brings Viam's total funding to $87 million since its launch just three years ago by former MongoDB CTO Eliot Horowitz.

"This investment affirms Viam's commitment to innovation and strengthens our vision to empower developers with intuitive, powerful, and flexible tools that help transform the way software powers hardware," stated Horowitz, who serves as Viam's founder and CEO. "Whether you're in IoT, robotics, smart home, or industrial automation, we're empowering the next generation to move quickly and build better."

Viam was created to address the software bottleneck holding back industries like robotics, industrial IoT, smart home, and automation. While AI, machine learning, cloud and edge computing have advanced rapidly, Horowitz identified that software for managing fleets of physical machines and devices remains overly complex and proprietary.

The constraints of today's hardware-specific embedded software create major hurdles for developers looking to build, connect and scale smart machine applications. This slows innovation and impedes growth across sectors poised to be revolutionized by robotics and IoT.

Drawing on his enterprise cloud platform experience from MongoDB, Horowitz has pioneered an open, modular software architecture designed for simplicity and interoperability across any hardware fleet or connected device environment.

Viam's platform provides a consistent development framework based on cloud-native principles like security, high availability and data durability. This open approach allows developers to work across heterogeneous robot and machine fleets using unified tools and data pipelines.

Since becoming generally available in May 2023, Viam has secured partnerships with major enterprises and startups seeking to accelerate time-to-market, reduce risks and boost developer productivity for smart machine applications.

"Viam's open architecture represents a paradigm shift that will bring the promises of robotics to the devices we use every day," said Albert Wenger, partner at Union Square Ventures. "We're thrilled to continue partnering with Viam in this exciting next chapter."

The new Series B funds will allow Viam to double down on enterprise and industrial partnerships while continuing to enhance its platform's capabilities. Key focus areas will include expanding cloud-to-edge AI/ML deployment, improving real-time fleet monitoring and predictive maintenance, and enabling seamless device data integration.

Viam is already collaborating on projects that illustrate the potential impact enabled by its unified robotics data fabric. This includes an open-source AI conservation program for protecting the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale population.

As smart machines proliferate across industries, Viam's open software platform could prove foundational for unlocking the full transformative potential of robotics and IoT. The startup's successfully securing over $80 million in venture backing underscores investors' confidence in that vision coming to fruition.