Introduction
Certus is a special breed of strategic investor that invests the residual cash generated from the successful investments into other early-stage hardware startups.
We utilize our core competencies in product and business development to help early-stage startups derisk and scale. We do this by placing ourselves in the driving seat next to the entrepreneurs.
The team at Certus has been investing in hardware for well over a decade. In the process, we have:
- Aquired material knowledge and know-how of how to build hardware products (with sustainability in mind)
- Nourished a value-creating ecosystem made up of best in class talent that we handpick to work with us to support the growth of our investees – we refer to this network as our ‘global brain’;
- established valuable supply-chain relationships as well as competencies in selecting the right partners for new projects.
This unique mix of knowledge, know-how and network helps Certus derisk the startups we invest in by accelerating time to market without compromising on quality and design. In other words, Certus deploys smart money to help startups and brand partners in the hardware domain create business.
Proven Success
“if you have ever seen a sleek iPad-looking device outside of a meeting room then there is a 30-35% chance that it is a Certus enabled product.
Certus is one of the early pioneers in the smart workplace industry, with roots dating back to 2007. We enabled Evoko to develop a lucrative room booking business. We also helped enable Humly, a startup that improves the office workplace experience with scalable technology. The global COVID pandemic has disrupted the workplace in a material way. The short-term effects have materially benefitted the remote home office although as global pandemic risks subside, hybrid/flexible working will become the new normal. As these mega trends become even more established, the share of IT expenditure flowing into innovative workplace solutions that enhance automation, productivity and wellness are set to continue to exhibit strong growth. As a matter of fact, both Humly and evoko are proving to be well positioned to capture this growth with the likes of Volvo Cars, Assa Abloy and Honeywell joining the list of high-profile customers.
Investment strategy
As a strategic investor Certus is highly selective. We only consider startups that meet our investment criteria and only invest in them if we believe that we can add significant value.
As an active investor, Certus does not adopt a spray-and-pray approach since we are not pressured by outside investors to deploy capital.
Investment Criteria
We only consider looking for entrepreneurs with intellectual integrity and self-awareness who have extremely deep domain expertise and a strong sales acumen with proven channel to the market.
Ticket size
The capital that is available for investment in any given year is generated from our existing investments.
We aim to invest the residual cash that is left over after investing in the OPEX and CAPEX requirements of our own businesses.
In any given year that may range between $200,000 and $3,000,000