March 18, 2014: UK-based start-up 1248 Ltd., that provides expertise and services to the rapidly emerging Internet of Things (IoT) industry, has received £250,000 investment from experienced serial telco entrepreneur Rob Dobson. Dobson takes up the position of chairman of the 1248 Board.
1248 helps companies to connect their products to the internet without spending time building infrastructure and provides off-the-shelf service components that make it quick and easy to build a scalable IoT platform. The company is reportedly helping to create an open standard to enable IoT applications and services to work together automatically, as part of a project funded by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board. The prime minister, David Cameron has also just pledged to spend an extra £45m with UK firms on developing IoT technology.
“The Internet of Things wave is building and 1248 is in an ideal position to help companies break down vendor silos and implement open IoT solutions at scale,” said Rob Dobson, who founded mobile network optimisation company Actix and has a strong track record of backing successful early-stage technology ventures. “1248 is one of the few start-ups whose founders have real experience of taking connected products to market in the millions and have a real practical and scalable approach to harnessing the opportunities presented by the IoT.”
1248 was set up in 2013 by Pilgrim Beart and Toby Jaffey. Previously, Beart has co-founded connected product companies activeRF, antenova, Splashpower and AlertMe, while Jaffey has more than a decade of experience designing and developing connected devices, gateways and services at Polatis, AlertMe, RealVNC, HyperTag and Amino.
“Rob’s investment is great vindication and support of our strategy and the potential of our market,” said Pilgrim Beart, CEO at 1248. “Even more valuable to us is Rob’s in-depth market knowledge and contacts. The name 1248 reflects the ability of the IoT to scale to very large numbers and Rob’s experience of managing connected products extends into billions.”
1248 was born out of the University of Cambridge Computer Lab, where Beart was a Visiting Industrial Fellow, and the Lab retains an undilutable 1% Golden Share in the company.
Rob Dobson founded Actix in 1991 and served as its CEO and CTO until 2007, growing revenues to over US$50 million by working with many of the world’s leading mobile operators and infrastructure vendors. He sold 72% of Actix to Summit Partners in 2005 at a valuation of $107 million and subsequently 100% was sold to Amdocs for $127 million in 2013.
