Autodesk looks to future with investment in IoT as a service
Late last year Autodesk, best known for its 3D drawing software, launched Forge, a platform as a service (PaaS) making 3D development and displaying available for developers as a cloud service in the form of APIs. Alongside the launch of its new platform, Autodesk pledged a fund of $100 million to help support the best ideas and applications developed with Forge.
A large chunk of that fund has gone to Seebo, a software as a service provider offering an end-to-end IoT platform that allows designers to easily add components like sensors, GPS or an accelerometer to designs. In short, with Seebo, you can make any product a connected device. Seebo is taking advantage of the Fusion IoT APIs built into the Autodesk’s platform.
Read More: Seebo wins $8.5 million in funding
“We are seeing Forge used to power the future of making things for a variety of applications ranging from part inspection to sub-sea surveying, from managing mines with drones to turning cost estimation into a competitive advantage, and building online design and manufacturing services and much, much more,” said Amar Hanspal, SVP of Products at Autodesk, in a statement.
Autodesk investing in the future
Speaking with TechCrunch on Autodesk’s investments in the future, the company’s CEO Carl Bass said: “Someone tweeted the other day, and I was laughing about it, that IoT is like teenage sex. Everybody says they’re doing it. They’re not really doing it. Those that are doing it aren’t doing it well.”
“As for why we create funds, we’ve had good returns on the money we’ve invested but [more] it gives us incredible access to looking at deals. What we’re trying to do is find people at the edge who are doing new stuff. Also yes, if nothing else, it’s a good way to form relationships with companies that, at some point later, may [turn into acquisitions].”
With more API additions being made to the Forge platform and a number of other companies, including the drone industry’s 3D Robotics, receiving investments, Autodesk is staking a claim as the future platform for making things.
To lure more developers, Autodesk is also offering free access to the platform APIs and unlimited consumption for 90 days following its ongoing conference. After three months, pricing starts at $400 per month with various tiers based on consumption.