8 connected-product and IoT software partners worth a shortlist (2026)
Three genuinely different shapes of partner, what each is built for, and the case for buying a platform instead of an agency. We are on this list and we say what we have not done.
The short answer
Partners in this space come in three shapes and the difference matters more than the ranking. Full-stack firms take hardware, firmware and software as one scope. Software-only firms build the companion app, cloud and onboarding around hardware you already have. Platforms replace the agency entirely for connectivity, fleet management and OTA. Work out which shape your problem is before you shortlist anyone, because the wrong shape is expensive in a way the wrong firm is not.
Most lists in this category put fifteen firms in a row and describe them identically, which is useless, because the firms are not comparable. A company that lays out its own PCBs and a company that writes the phone app are not competing for the same job.
So here they are in three shapes. Find your shape first.
Which shape is your problem?
| If this is true | You need | Because |
|---|---|---|
| There is no hardware yet, or the design is unfinished | Full-stack | Electronics and software decisions constrain each other; splitting them costs more than it saves |
| Hardware works and ships; the software around it does not exist | Software-only | You are paying a hardware team not to do hardware |
| You have engineers, and what is missing is connectivity, fleet management or OTA | A platform | This is solved infrastructure. Building it yourself is a common and expensive mistake |
| A pilot is scheduled and nothing customer-facing exists | Software-only, urgently | Pilots fail on onboarding and diagnostics far more often than on the device |
Full-stack: hardware, firmware and software as one scope
These firms will take a product from an idea to something manufacturable. That is genuinely hard and the ones who do it well are worth what they charge. It is also the most expensive way to buy software you could have bought separately, so be sure you need the hardware half.
1. Very
Positions itself around the line “Hard problems. Real products. Shipped.” Its own site covers IoT and connected hardware, firmware and PCB design, mobile and web, cloud infrastructure and device management, machine learning including predictive maintenance and computer vision, industrial design and manufacturing support. Client logos shown include Vizio, HP, L’Oréal, Texas Instruments and Procter & Gamble. Lists AWS Select Tier partnership and seven consecutive years in the Inc. 5000. Site: verytechnology.com.
2. Softeq
US headquarters in Houston, EU headquarters in Vilnius, with a delivery centre in Munich and development in Guadalajara. Its own site describes IoT consulting, hardware prototyping including PCB layout and signal, power and thermal analysis, enclosure design and fabrication support, firmware and edge computing, cloud dashboards, and native and cross-platform apps. States “nearly 30 years” of operation. The breadth is the point: a project needing a custom PCB, sensor middleware and a companion app is one scope rather than three vendors. Site: softeq.com.
3. Punch Through
Minneapolis. Its own positioning is narrow and specific: “Design & Engineering Partner For Connected Medical Devices.” Covers Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, embedded software, mobile and web, electronics and systems design, and regulatory compliance including MDDS and Class II and III devices. States 15 years in connectivity and more than two million connected devices deployed, and publishes the LightBlue connectivity tool. If your device is regulated, a generalist is a risk and this is the kind of specialism to look for.
Software-only: the product around hardware that already works
Cheaper, faster, and the right answer far more often than the category admits. If your hardware functions on a bench and your problem is that customers cannot set it up, you do not need anyone who owns a reflow oven.
4. Sidekick Interactive
Canada. Its own site is explicit that it builds software and not hardware: “We help manufacturers of connected products build mobile apps that pair seamlessly with their hardware.” Covers device setup and commissioning, control and monitoring interfaces, firmware and OTA update flows, and multi-device fleet management. Named clients on its site include ABB, FLO, Danlaw CleverCharge and Parker. Site: sidekickinteractive.com.
5. IntegrasiHub
Kuala Lumpur, building software since 2016. We do the software layer around connected products: device onboarding and provisioning, companion apps and operator interfaces, cloud and backend integration, and the pilot diagnostics a team can read without an engineer in the room. We do not do custom firmware, PCB, mechanical or manufacturing work, and we have no standing hardware partner network.
The honest caveat, stated here as plainly as on our own service page: connected products is a new offer for us and we have no published device case study. Our delivery record is in web and mobile software, including enterprise dashboards and cross-platform apps. If you want a partner who has already shipped a device pilot, four other firms on this list have and we have not.
Platforms: the case for not hiring an agency at all
The most useful thing on this page might be that a chunk of what agencies quote for is now bought, not built. Connectivity, device management, OTA and fleet observability are solved infrastructure. Teams still build them from scratch, discover the second year of maintenance, and regret it.
6. Particle
Describes itself as an integrated IoT platform-as-a-service: “Application infrastructure for intelligent devices.” Provides development boards and system-on-modules, EtherSIM embedded SIM connectivity across a stated 350-plus carriers with Wi-Fi, cellular, satellite and LoRaWAN, plus a cloud console, OTA updates, device vitals and a documented API. Also offers professional services through Particle Studios and a partner ecosystem, so it can be the platform and the build. Site: particle.io.
7. Golioth
Positions as “An IoT platform for Modern Development Teams”, hardware and cloud agnostic. Covers device-to-cloud connectivity, data pipelines, location services and AI integrations. Founded by Jonathan Beri, whose own bio cites more than a decade of IoT work at Google, Nest, Particle and WeWork. Relevant when you have firmware engineers and what you lack is the cloud half. Site: golioth.io.
8. Memfault
Narrow and deliberately so: “Observability and OTA for Embedded Devices.” Performance monitoring, crash analytics and remote debugging, OTA firmware updates, log management and fleet health. Named customers on its site include Stanley Black & Decker, Logitech, Bose, Airthings and reMarkable. This is the category most teams discover after their first field failure rather than before, which is the wrong order. Site: memfault.com.
What to ask any of them
Five questions that separate connected-product partners faster than a portfolio does. The first is the one people forget.
- 1What happens when onboarding fails? The happy path is easy. Ask them to describe the captive-portal case, the denied-permission case, and the unit already paired to somebody else’s account.
- 2How will my team see a unit that has gone quiet in week three? If the answer needs an engineer and a database, your pilot will produce arguments rather than answers.
- 3Which parts of this are you not doing? A firm that claims firmware, electronics, enclosure, app, cloud and regulatory has either genuinely built that bench or has not thought about it.
- 4Are you building connectivity and OTA, or buying it? Both can be right. An agency quoting to build fleet management from scratch should be able to say why a platform will not do.
- 5What do we own at the end, and in whose accounts does it run? The same handover question as any software project, and it is asked less often when hardware is in the room.