Esper, the Leader in DevOps for Devices, Announces $60 Million Series C funding as Market Demand Explodes

Co-Founders headshot - Yadhu Gopalan, left(CEO)_ Shiv Sundar, right(COO)

Insight Partners Leads Latest Financing, Esper’s Second in 2021

MUMBAI, October 6, 2021 -- India and US based Esper, the industry’s leading DevOps platform for devices, today announced $60 million in Series C funding led by Insight Partners, with participation from existing investors including Scale Venture Partners, Madrona Ventures and Root Ventures. The investment brings Esper's total funding to $100 million and follows the company’s $30 million Series B just four month ago in May 2021. Esper developed the industry’s first DevOps platform for intelligent edge devices and was named one of the top 10 hottest startups in 2021 by CRN.

Enterprise edge devices is a fast-growing category that includes everything from the tablets used in travel, restaurants, and warehouses, to medical devices, fitness equipment, and in-store kiosks. Esper is the only software platform that lets organizations remotely scale, manage, secure, and update mission-critical edge devices and custom apps using the proven DevOps practices now considered standard in web app development.

There is a massive potential for Indian organisations to adopt Android DevOps across sectors including hospitality, restaurant, healthcare, education, and logistics sectors to deliver contactless services. Esper works with some of the major brands including cult.fit, Teach for India to power and manage their devices.

“India witnessed unprecedented digital transformation since the pandemic, which makes it a unique market with the potential to adopt DevOps across every industry. Android DevOps has the potential to transform Indian businesses through their journey towards agility, increase operational efficiency and control costs,”says Yadhu Gopalan, CEO and co-founder at Esper.

“Esper’s team in India is pivotal to the company’s growth. Currently 83 employees work out of India and are responsible for designing and engineering Esper's core DevOps platform along with tackling the core marketing and sales functions. We plan to increase the employee count to 200 by 2022 as we are looking to expand the Engineering and Sales functions,” said Shiv Sundar, COO & co-founder at Esper.

“Customer expectations are higher than ever. When a point of sale terminal in a retailer is out of order, the merchant doesn’t have the time or expertise to fix it. These devices are mission critical and expected to work flawlessly 24/7. This is especially true for devices directly tied to revenue generation or in verticals like medical devices where a life might literally be on the line. We built Esper with the customer’s customer in mind,” Yadhu Gopalan further adds.

Edge devices are a new path to connecting with more customers in more places, but challenges persist.

“For years now we’ve seen these massive projections about IOT devices of all kinds. But on the ground, enterprises and SMBs are struggling with the reality that large-scale deployments of devices are hard and expensive when you go it alone,” said Philine Huizing, Vice President at Insight Partners. “Esper has emerged as the only platform that provides modern DevOps capabilities in a package purpose built for intelligent edge devices. And even better, developers tell us that they love using Esper."

Esper has over 200 paying customers and over 2,000 developers using its platform for product development. Esper addresses verticals as diverse as fast food, healthcare, connected fitness, retail, and digital signage, driving 2021 revenue 4x higher than the year prior and making Esper one of the fastest growing startups in the enterprise software sector. The Seattle-based company quadrupled headcount during 2021 and tripled its office footprint in Bellevue on a square footage basis.

As this hyper-growth attests, innovative brands are using Esper to move from whiteboard to deployment faster than they ever thought possible. This is particularly important in markets like healthcare where ease-of-use and continuous uptime are critical:

"With Esper, our remote patient monitoring service just works,” said Neema Moraveji, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Spire Health. “Esper’s seamless deployment ensures that even patients who are not as comfortable with technology can successfully use our service. Device set-up is simple, there is zero configuration needed by the patients, and Esper’s full-service solution detects connectivity and sensor failures ahead of time and alerts the Spire team for proactive outreach to our patients, often before they even notice an issue.”

This latest funding round will primarily be used to further expand Esper’s ability to get in front of more enterprise customers.

“Our biggest opportunity right now is getting the word out to more enterprises that Esper exists,”adds Shiv Sundar. “No other software does what we do. Our customers tell us that we are completely resetting their assumptions about what is possible. It’s truly rewarding to see the light bulb go off when a customer realizes all of the infrastructure they no longer have to build themselves.”

Enterprises can sign up for a technology demo at https://www.esper.io/book-demo.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com.

About Esper

Esper offers a DevOps SaaS platform for intelligent edge devices. As the industry’s leading solution for Android DevOps, Esper is on a mission to let software teams ship without worrying about the hardware. Esper’s device infrastructure enables developers, mid-market orgs, and enterprise fleets of 100,000+ devices to deliver their software as a service. Esper has rapidly-growing global customer adoption among some of the world’s most innovative major brands in retail, hospitality, logistics, healthcare, education, and more. For more information visit: https://esper.io.

The world’s most innovative brands trust Esper’s powerful DevOps platform to securely streamline deployment and management for distributed fleets of mission-critical Android edge devices, creating delightful user experiences that rapidly scale. Esper exists because developers and engineers need a great platform for Device DevOps to innovate on top of. Digital transformation is accelerating the adoption of intelligent edge devices across industries and each new use case requires better software automation. We deliver operational excellence and a stable, scalable infrastructure to help you quickly deploy your application experiences at scale.

Esper Partners with Point Mobile on Lifecycle Management for Rugged Android Devices

Android Leaders Simplify Android Deployment and Management for Industrial Fleets

Esper, a global leader in the Android DevOps space, has announced a partnership with Point Mobile Co., Ltd., one of the world’s fastest-growing manufacturers of rugged, handheld mobile computers. Industrial fleet managers have off-the-shelf access to the industry’s most powerful tools for Android device deployment and management on Point Mobile devices. Esper and Point Mobile want to help firms in energy, materials, and the supply chain rapidly deploy and secure Android devices.

“Point Mobile is among the most quality-focused mobile device makers in the world. They’re a globally-leading source for rugged Android devices and purpose-built mobile hardware,” says Esper’s COO and Co-Founder Shiv Sundar. “We’re proud to announce that Esper’s cloud tools are offered as part of Point Mobile’s leading options for post-sales support.”

“Together, we can help our customers in the supply chain, energy, and materials streamline operations and gain a competitive edge with connected Android,” says Sundar. Esper’s Android DevOps tools can reduce fleet OpEx by 60% versus traditional mobile device management (MDM) solutions by offering remote features to provision, update, and debug devices. 

“Point Mobile partners with innovators like Esper to drive our mission of transforming industry mobility,” says SK Kang, CEO of Point Mobile. “Remote Android management features significantly lower fleet operating expenses, which allows our customers to focus on transforming industrial workflows.”  

Esper and Point Mobile’s partnership was formed, in part, because both firms share a mission to provide stable, simple, and cost-effective Android mobility solutions. Point Mobile customers can gain a mobile advantage with built-in cloud tools for ultra-reliable, rugged Android devices. 

About Esper

Founded in 2017 in Bellevue, Washington, Esper is the industry’s first complete toolchain for connected Android devices like kiosks, point-of-sale, digital signage, and purpose-built hardware. Esper’s cloud console and open APIs provide the infrastructure for secure connection and real-time data exchange between Android devices and cloud. You can learn more at esper.io or on the company’s LinkedIn page. 

About Point Mobile
Founded in 2006 in Seoul, Point Mobile is one of the fastest-growing enterprise handheld mobile device manufacturers in the world. Point Mobile’s products include handheld mobile computers, rugged smartphones, LTE/Android mobile payment devices, healthcare terminals, RFID readers, and portable bluetooth scanners. Every part of Point Mobile’s devices and accessories is made in-house, with an aim of absolute ruggedness and high product quality.  Learn more at PointMobile.co.kr or on the company’s LinkedIn page.

D. Vishranth, Former GM of Samsung, Joins Esper as Director of Sales & Partnerships, APAC

 Esper announced the appointment of D.Vishranth, Director of Sales & Partnerships-APAC. Vishranth was previously General Manager & Head of Channels at Samsung Enterprise Mobility. He’s a recognized thought leader with over 22 years of experience spearheading enterprise Mobility and ICT initiatives at brands like Hewlett Packard, Lenovo & HCL-Infosystems.

“It’s an exciting time to lead Esper’s APAC Sales and Partnership efforts. As the most powerful cloud tools in the Android mobility space, Esper is uniquely positioned to help customers scale IoT deployments across form factors, including kiosks, mobile point-of-sale, interactive signage, and more,” said D.Vishranth, Director of Sales & Partnerships-APAC. ”I’m honored to be a part of such a visionary startup, and I look forward to collaborating with the hugely talented team to build on Esper’s hyper growth trajectory in the APAC region.”

Shiv Sundar, Co-Founder and COO, Esper said, “We are thrilled to welcome Vishranth on board with us. He has deep industry experience, understands the complexity of servicing a wide variety of users, and can lead and strengthen Esper’s efforts in the APAC region.”

Sustaining the Growth Trajectory in India

Esper also announced the appointment of three Principal Engineers– Eby Chembola, Nithin John, and Yaser Hameed, all of whom have had a background as successful entrepreneurs.

Eby Chembola has over 12 years of experience in the IT industry and has worked with multiple engineering systems, like PayTm, Quixey and WIPRO. Nithin John has over 10 years of experience and has worked with PayTm, Quixey and Daily Rounds in the past. Yaser Hameed, who has over 11 years of experience, began his career at Bosch and went on to work with Quixey and PayTM.

In 2010, the trio co-founded Dexetra, which was one of the first mobility / data-focused startups in India. They raised investments from Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and One97 MobilityFund before getting acquired by US-based startup, Quixey, in late 2014.

Chembola went on to co-found TreatGo – a startup which helped people find the best place for healthcare treatments. Hameed and John served as the CEO and CTO respectively at TreatGo, which raised investments from various non-institutional VCs and was later absorbed by PayTM in 2018 as an acquihire.

“Esper’s talented new hires will help our team maintain a rapid pace of innovation and meet growing demand for our product in APAC, EMEA, and other global markets. Our team has been crucial in our journey so far, and we are looking forward to maintaining our hyper-growth especially in India.” added Shiv Sundar, Co-Founder and COO, Esper.

In spite of the global pandemic, Esper - a startup who makes cloud tools for Android app and device deployment and management, has hired sales and engineering leads to meet global product demand, signifying resilience and revenue growth. Esper’s mission is to help their customers achieve business resiliency via Android IoT innovation by offering more than mobile device management, or MDM tools. Sundar will be available to answer questions about business resiliency and startup strategy in an upcoming “ask me anything,” or AMA session on July 9, 2020 at 11am IST.

About Esper:

Esper’s cloud tools automate application deployment and management for Android devices. Using Esper, enterprises can configure and monitor Android devices for various use cases, keep them secure to help their business function seamlessly. Esper also specializes in streamlining the process for building, deploying, and managing apps on devices for POS, restaurants, kiosks, logistics, and transportation at scale.

Android IoT Innovators, Esper and Bluebird, Join Hands to Transform India’s Supply Chain

Esper announced a  strategic alliance with Bluebird during the last week of May. The partnership will focus on accelerating innovation in India’s logistics and transportation sector. Companies connected to India’s supply chain can now quickly launch and optimize devices and apps with Bluebird and Esper’s full-lifecycle solutions for devices, OS, apps, and updates. 

Esper, a Bangalore and Seattle based startup, is a leading cloud platform that automates application deployment and management for Android devices. Bluebird Inc is a well known global provider of rugged handheld mobile computers for warehouses and last mile delivery. They have a dedicated R&D center in Bangalore and some of their key target markets include Southwest Asia, Middle East and the African markets. Together, Esper and Bluebird plan to transform the supply chain with the most powerful, sophisticated IoT solutions.

Commenting on the partnership, Shiv Sundar, COO of Esper, said “Customer experience and agility are the new competitive battlefield for the supply chain. Currently, the industry is facing operational challenges due to unpredictable supply, demand, and capacity. By adding our custom OS, Esper Enhanced Android, to Bluebird’s data capture devices, logistics and transport firms can connect devices, OS and apps to the cloud. It’s a powerful approach to IoT fleet management that helps customers adopt streaming analytics and process automation.”


Jang Won Lee, CEO of Bluebird, Inc, said “Our immediate vision is to help logistics and transport firms automate workflows across warehouses, fleets, and last mile deliveries. Going forward, we plan to continually innovate on new products and solutions for this sector. Mutual customers can use Esper and Bluebird to remotely deploy and manage Android IoT fleets across the supply chain, from rugged smartphones and tablets to handheld scanners and mobile point-of-sale systems.”

The future of Android IoT for India’s supply chain is streamlined and scalable with Bluebird and Esper’s solutions for devices, cloud tools, and custom OS.  Esper Enhanced Android is now offered as a free feature out-of-the-box on Bluebird’s rugged devices. Access to Esper’s DevOps platform and cloud APIs is free for fleets with 100 devices or fewer. Subscriptions for larger fleets are offered at an unbeatable, low price. 

About Esper

Esper is the industry’s most powerful cloud tools for Android device deployment and application management. Our platform and cloud APIs help organizations across industries go beyond traditional mobile device management to Android DevOps with support for rugged devices, kiosks, handhelds, mPoS, and more. Esper’s partnerships with Bluebird, Lenovo, Zebra, and MediaTek are creating waves of change across logistics, transport, and other industries.

About Bluebird, Inc
Bluebird is a leading global provider of enterprise IoT device solutions, with operational headquarters in Seoul, South Korea and Bengaluru, Karnataka. Worldwide, over 3,000 companies in logistics, transportation, and other industries trust Bluebird’s rugged handheld mobile computers and IoT devices to transform their businesses.