VentureBeat

Apprion, a Moffet Field, Calif. company that makes wireless integration systems for harsh environments like industrial plants, has raised a new round of funding led by a strategic investment from cellular giant Motorola.

Plants are a little different from your standard wireless environment — temperature extremes, toxic chemicals and dangerous equipment are all par for the course, and the average worker isn’t exactly lugging around a laptop. That being the case, the requirements for networking are a bit different. Sensors, cameras, RFID tags and walkie-talkies all need to mesh together, which can be difficult if they’re all made by different companies.

Like a Cisco for the manufacturing world, Apprion does the work of integrating different wireless applications together and providing centralized controls and visualization, providing a brain for the growing nervous systems of sensors and monitors scattered around modern foundries, pharmaceutical plants, refineries and other facilities.

The opportunity to become the go-to company for Apprion’s kind of product isn’t small, according to CEO Mike Bradley. He says there are about 76,000 plants with 100 or more employees, the size at which they are likely to want networks in place. Systems for each of those plants range from $100,000 to $1 million dollars.

A number of other companies are working on wireless equipment and sensors to go into industry, hospitals, businesses and even the growing, green sort of plants. Motorola itself makes communication equipment for construction and industry workers, including cell phones and walkie-talkies. However, there are relatively few companies working on tying all those pieces of equipment, including RFID sensors, together in a software interface.

The exact size of the investment wasn’t disclosed, but Apprion raised $12 million in its first round, and has now taken a total of $23.5 million. Motorola led, and was joined by existing investors Chevron Technology Ventures, Anvil Investment Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures and Allegis Capital.