Apprion, industrial wireless application network co., raises $12M

Apprion, a Moffett Field, Calif. company that develops wireless application networks for the oil, gas, chemical and power industries, will announce tomorrow that it has raised a $12 million second round of funding.

This round is led by Anvil Investment Associates, and includes participation from strategic investor CTTV Investments, the venture capital arm of Chevron Technology Ventures, and previous investors Advanced Technology Ventures and Allegis Capital.

From the statement:

“This round of funding firmly validates Apprion’s technology and business strategy. The new investment will support and extend the capabilities of the Apprion ION System to address growing demand for interoperable wireless applications, allowing the company to greatly expand our presence in the oil and gas, utilities, chemical and other process manufacturing markets. Having Chevron Technology Ventures as an investor is a vote of confidence for Apprion,” said Stephen Lambright, CEO of Apprion. “The market momentum Apprion has gained clearly demonstrates that ION and ION-based applications are hitting the mark with process manufacturers.”“Wireless technologies are fueling a new generation of applications that will radically change the way industrial facilities are managed and operated. However, these industrial applications demand increased levels of interoperability, reliability and scalability – which are the inherent differentiators of the Apprion ION System compared to other industrial wireless offerings that are proprietary,” Blair LaCorte, Apprion Board Member. “Apprion’s approach of integrating the management and security of applications from many vendors into a single common infrastructure will only serve to further accelerate that adoption.”

Apprion designed the ION System to cost-effectively deploy and manage wireless-enabled applications in a unified system that is more secure, more reliable and easier to extend in the future as technologies evolve and new applications become available. By unifying and integrating applications such as video monitoring, wireless voice over IP (VoIP) communications, condition monitoring, network security, and asset tracking, Apprion’s ION System enables more comprehensive solutions to meet the complex requirements of process manufacturers – including increased regulatory and compliance challenges currently facing the energy and chemical industries.

Apprion’s ION System is a comprehensive industrial wireless application networking system built from the ground-up as the first truly open, scalable, and extensible foundation for managing multi-vendor wireless devices and applications. The ION System delivers improved security, management and integration capabilities to meet the challenges of the evolving process manufacturing environment.

The ION System consists of the Apprion IONosphere and IONizers. The IONosphere is an on-site controller with enhanced features and functionality to automatically bring devices, systems and applications under management, ensuring improved network performance, security, and reliability. Apprion’s IONizer is the process industry’s first industrial wireless networking appliance. IONizers are designed to cost-effectively integrate and secure previously disparate wireless-enabled applications, such as VoIP and condition monitoring.