balena

Balena provides a platform of tools for developers to build, deploy, and manage fleets of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The company, initially named Resin.io, was founded in 2013 by Alexandros Marinos, Pagan Gazzard, and Petros Angelatos. The founders' personal experiences with the frustrations of managing connected devices led them to create a platform to simplify the process for all IoT developers. The company rebranded from Resin.io to Balena in 2017 to reflect a stronger focus on IoT device management. In 2015, Balena relocated its headquarters from London to Seattle, and also maintains offices in Athens and Milan.

Balena’s business model is centered on a subscription-based, freemium model, providing infrastructure for IoT developers and fleet owners. The first 10 devices are free to manage, with tiered pricing for larger fleets, which helped the company attract a broad user base. The company has received funding from investors such as DFJ, OpenView, General Electric, Threshold Ventures, and Aspect Ventures. By July 2019, it had raised $14.4 million in a Series B round, bringing its total funding to $31 million.

The core of Balena's offering is a full-stack, container-based platform that utilizes technologies like Docker to streamline IoT development. Key products include balenaCloud for device deployment and management, balenaOS (a host operating system for running containers on embedded devices), balenaEngine (a container engine based on Moby technology from Docker), and the open-source openBalena, which allows users to host their own management server. The platform supports remote over-the-air (OTA) updates, device monitoring, and secure management through a web dashboard, API, and command-line interface (CLI). Balena also released its first hardware product, the balenaFin, a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module. The platform is designed to serve a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, robotics, energy, and building management.

Keywords: IoT, edge computing, device management, fleet management, connected devices, Linux containers, Docker, balenaOS, openBalena, IoT platform, remote deployment, over-the-air updates, IoT infrastructure, balenaFin, IoT developers, Moby project, embedded systems, Raspberry Pi, device security, IoT fleet