۱- Introduction

۲- Literature review

۳- Data and methodology

۴- Results

۵-  Discussion

۶- Conclusion

References

Abstract

The role of investors in the growth of startups has been continuously studied. Our paper complements this stream of research by adding a new role of the investor in the Internet of Things (IoT) field, as a channel of knowledge sharing among startups. The relationship between “Internet of Things” startups located in the US and its investors leads to technology convergence as a result of knowledge sharing from investors. Using network analysis and a co-occurrence method, we find that investors in the IoT field play an intermediate role connecting startups by forming an ideal topology for knowledge sharing among them in the IoT industry. IoT startups having investors and more connections to other startups show greater technology convergence. Based on the above findings, this study argues that technology convergence occurs in the venture network as a result of investors playing the role of a channel of knowledge flow.

Introduction

Around a decade ago, a new concept of technology was introduced in our lives which aimed to converge all “Things” via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Internet, sensors and tags creating a paradigm where all things were able to communicate among each other called the “Internet of Things (IoT)”. The use of this concept was first limited to the macro level focusing on convenient and efficient productions in factories and sites, but has now evolved into a concept that takes place frequently in our daily lives in forms of various technologies. This new concept has been growing dramatically since its release, and is predicted by prior studies and reports to continue its growth in size and numbers more rapidly(Shin, 2014). Reports on IoT by Gartner (2017) show that approximately 8.4 billion IoT devices are in use in 2017 and will reach 20.4 billion by 2020 almost doubling in numbers. Reports made by the international data corporation (IDC) also show the rapid growth of IoT. In 2017, $800 billion was invested in the IoT industry and the investment amount is also expected to increase to $1.4 trillion by 2021 as firms and organizations are planning to continuously invest in IoT related fields (IDC, 2017). With IoT gaining momentum across the world, startups have also been actively taking part in the IoT industry. According to a report studying the North America based startups in the IoT field, $125 billion was invested to 2,888 startups in 2017. The value of these startups grew to $613 billion, and produced 95 startups that are now worth a billion dollars so called unicorns (Koetsier, 2017). In proportion with the explosive growth of IoT startup firms, new technologies have also been created by startups under the IoT concept. As past studies show the underlying value of IoT to be creating new technologies through the convergence of the existing ones (Atzori et al., 2010) startups have and are creating new technology by converging the “Internet” and “Things” as the literal definition of IoT is the combination of the internet and other objects.