VC funds to invest over $1.6 billion in Internet of Things in 2014

Venture capital firms are expected to invest more than $1.6 billion this year on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies as more devices get connected to the Internet and increase efficiency as well as quality of people's lives, networking solutions giant Cisco said on Wednesday. The US-based firm said as many as 13.69 billion devices have been connected through the virtual medium so far this year. '10.69 billion things were connected till October 2013, which has gone up to 13.69 billion in October 2014,' Cisco Executive VP (Industry Solutions) and Chief Globalisation Officer, Wim Elfrink said at Internet of Things (IoT) World Forum here. It is estimated that 50 billion objects to be connected by 2020, he added. At present, only 37 per cent are industrial consumers of IoT, he said adding that it is expected to exceed 50 per cent by 2017. During this year, venture capital investments into IoT are expected to exceed to $1.6 billion, Elfrink said.