Cisco buys IoT startup Jasper for $1.4 bn

BANGALORE: Cisco Systems is buying Jasper Technologies, a startup that connects devices like cars and medical devices to the Internet, for $1.4 billion in cash and equity awards.

Jasper connects devices like cars, jet engines and pacemakers to the Internet and also makes a software platform that helps monitor these devices once they are online.

Cisco, which has acquired dozens of smaller companies over the years, is shifting its business towards high-end switches and routers and investing in new products such as data analytics software and cloud-based tools for data centers.

Jasper investors include Singapore’s Temasek, Sequoia Capital and Benchmark Capital.

Jasper’s chief executive Jahangir Mohammed will stay on with Cisco and run a new Internet of Things Software Business Unit once the deal closes in the third quarter.