“No one can do what Blues can do!”

That’s the kind of effusive praise I’ve heard again and again when I talk to customers about Blues. In 2024, I had the privilege of assuming a role on the company’s board on behalf of Sequoia. I’d been enthusiastic about Blues’ future since our partnership began four years earlier, but I wanted to deepen my understanding of the company and its value proposition. So I organized a series of calls to hear first hand from customers—and my enthusiasm rose dramatically.

Customers loved Blues. They emphasized the product’s flexibility, affordability and ease-of-use. They also complimented the team’s professionalism and responsiveness.

These customers were from a diverse range of industries, testament to the breathtakingly broad use cases for Blues’ products. A flower grower tracking greenhouse temperatures. A shipping business monitoring air currents for ideal travel routes. Enabling remote healthcare across underserved areas of the Caribbean. Smart cranes. Smart port-o-potties! The list goes on and on, from industrial to retail to energy. 

This scale of connectivity was not always possible. But this idea has been brewing in Blues founder Ray Ozzie’s imagination for many years. Ray is a visionary technologist who rebuilt low-connectivity sync. Earlier in his career, he served as Microsoft’s CTO and chief software architect, and before that he founded Lotus Notes. Ray and his team believe not just smart phones and cars but most products in the world should be connected to the cloud—and they understood the barriers to that vision were a mix of technical complexity, business model complexity and overall cost. Blues solves these challenges, one by one, empowering companies to focus on what matters most: growing their business. 

They’ve built integrated hardware (Notecard) and cloud software (Notehub) that enables a plug-and-play solution: a cheat code for any developer looking to turn physical products into data-driven, intelligent services. Each Notecard is equipped with top-tier security, runs on minimal power and offers flexible connectivity across cellular, satellite, Wi-Fi and long range. The Notehub, meanwhile, is a cloud-based control center for instant and secure data routing and fleet management. 

Together, these tools put developers in the driver’s seat. Instead of trying to build for the countless use cases themselves, Ray and his team have given innovators exceptional technology and empowered them to solve their own problems—across a staggering range of applications, with a single API. And as more and more people build with Blues, they form an entire ecosystem of specialists helping each other connect to the cloud.

It is remarkable to see the creativity of applications built on Blues, and we at Sequoia can’t wait to see what users dream of next. We share the enthusiasm of Blues customers and decided to double-down on our partnership, leading their most recent financing. We believe in Ray and his team, and in their mission to make every thing connected and smarter.