Exclusive: Singapore IoT startup Willowmore locks in series A funds

Willowmore, a Singapore-based startup specializing in the internet of things, has raised its first institutional funding in a series A round led by Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund.

The company didn’t disclose details about the funding size and other participating investors.

Willowmore was founded in 2014 by Joseph Tey and Basil Byrne, who met while working at telecom firms Nokia and Ooredoo. The startup, which operates in Singapore and Indonesia, provides keyless smart locks and the accompanying software for the devices. Its customers are primarily from the infrastructure segment, such as tower companies, telecom operators, and network equipment vendors.

Willowmore co-founders Joseph Tey (left) and Basil Byrne / Photo credit: Willowmore

Willowmore plans to use the series A proceeds to grow its management team, build its product pipeline, and ramp up sales and marketing efforts in ​​new markets like Australia and Japan.

“Willowmore is focused on targeting enterprise customers with their complete solution, which ensures not only physical and digital access control but also extensive traceability for high-security sites,” says CK Tan, a managing partner of the Oriza Greenwillow Technology Fund. “We believe that this is a blue ocean opportunity, which is unlike the saturated market for consumer smart locks.”

An enterprise-grade solution

Tey and Byrne established Willowmore after seeing operational gaps among telecom operators. In particular, many critical assets are secured by mechanical locks that need to be changed in person.

“Every telecom operator in the region wastes thousands of man-days a year in collecting keys. They get tens of millions of dollars of equipment stolen, and they have lots of fraud,” Byrne tells Tech in Asia.

In contrast, enterprises using Willowmore’s smart lock system can directly issue virtual keys to authorized staff and contractors via their smartphones. This ensures the security of distributed assets while also enabling companies to trace the entry of personnel.

“Smartphones have GPS. We use that to pinpoint where a person is operating our devices. That gives another layer of protection because we have geofencing capability,” says Tey.

The founders’ experience led Willowmore to focus on an enterprise-grade solution instead of dipping into the increasingly crowded consumer space. Amid the pandemic, the service has become even more useful, as contractors don’t need to physically travel around to collect keys.

The Willowmore team / Photo credit: Willowmore

For hardware production, the company has contract manufacturers in China that handle the assembly process.

Expansion plans