Knorr-Bremse and existing shareholders invest CHF 76 m in Nexxiot

Global rail freight activity has steadily increased over the past 20 years, but the rail freight industry lacks the real-time visibility and data needed to accelerate optimization. Of the five million rail cars globally only approximately eight percent are digitized, representing a massive IoT retrofitting and digitization opportunity for the industry. Based on the real-time analysis of rail data in Nexxiot's ecosystem, Knorr-Bremse will be able to precisely project systems' state of health and maintenance needs. In effect, clients will be able to service their fleets more proactively and cost-efficiently by taking advantage of Condition-Based and Predictive Maintenance.

Knorr-Bremse and its North American subsidiaries New York Air Brake and Knorr Brake Company will integrate Nexxiot's IoT hardware and software into its future rail products and the systems it produces, proactively driving digital connectivity into its vast railroad customer base. Knorr-Bremse will deploy the Nexxiot Globehopper LINK device that detects the status of some of the most crucial parts of a railcar, including doors and brakes, and sends the data to the cloud. Nexxiot processes this data using proprietary algorithms and Big Data analytics to create new business intelligence and data driven services for all stakeholders across the value network.

This IoT technology will allow operators to automate critical business processes and gain myriad new insights to drive a step change in efficiency, sustainability, customer service and profitability. Train parts that have not been monitored in real-time become digitally visible and accessible.

In addition to the customer relationship, Knorr-Bremse becomes a strategic minority investor in Nexxiot. Leading investment management firm QVIDTVM, led by Burak Alici, and existing shareholders have topped their investment. In total they invested CHF 76 million.

(Press release / SK)