From Innovation to Industry Leader: Arduino's Journey to Qualcomm Technologies

07 Oct

Today marks a milestone that resonates far beyond a single transaction. Qualcomm Technologies has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Arduino, the company that transformed how millions of people around the world interact with electronics and laid the foundation for accessible IoT development.

This acquisition represents more than a business deal – it validates a vision that began with making electronics accessible to everyone and evolved into building the infrastructure for the next generation of connected devices.

The Arduino vision: From education to enterprise

Arduino’s journey embodies a clear progression. First, creating the world’s largest open-source community for programmable microcontrollers. Then, establishing itself as the reference platform for electronics education in high schools and universities globally. Finally, bringing the same accessible prototyping approach to industrial electronics and IoT technology markets.

But vision requires execution. This achievement reflects years of work by the Arduino team, building a community of millions of users while developing technology that bridges the gap between learning and professional development.

Moviri's role in Arduino's evolution

Our connection with Arduino dates back to 2017, when Moviri became the first investor to believe in Arduino’s potential during a pivotal company reorganization. This investment supported the founding shareholders in regaining full control of the company, enabling Arduino to pursue its long-term vision without constraints.

Arduino’s CEO Fabio Violante, who is also Moviri’s former CEO and co-founder and continues to be on our Board of Directors, has been instrumental in this journey. The relationship between our organizations runs deep, with several former Moviri employees holding key positions at Arduino.

Our investment in Arduino aligned with our broader focus: identifying opportunities where cutting-edge technology can solve meaningful problems at scale. We recognized that Arduino’s approach to democratizing hardware development had implications far beyond hobbyists and educators – it represented a new paradigm for how industrial IoT solutions could be developed and deployed.

Why Qualcomm Technologies matters

Qualcomm Technologies brings significant weight to this partnership. As a $40 billion-per-year global leader in semiconductors, Qualcomm Technologies powers billions of smartphones, devices, AI PCs, and connected systems worldwide. The company develops the processors and connectivity systems that define how intelligence and connectivity are integrated into modern technology.

This isn’t just another acquisition. It’s a strategic combination that positions Arduino’s accessible development platform alongside Qualcomm Technologies’ semiconductor and connectivity capabilities, creating new possibilities for how IoT solutions are conceived and deployed.

The Moviri innovation model at work

Arduino’s acquisition demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to innovation. Like Neptuny, ContentWise, Cleafy, and Akamas before it, Arduino validates our model of identifying promising opportunities, providing strategic support, and helping companies reach their full potential.

Our unique position – combining consulting services with technology investments – continues to prove its value. By working directly with enterprise customers, we identify challenges that others might overlook. Our consulting practice provides the insight; our investment model provides the resources to address these challenges at scale.

Since Moviri’s founding in 2000, we’ve focused on hard and important problems, developing solutions that have significant impact on business and technology. Our track record speaks to this approach:

Neptuny revolutionized capacity planning for enterprise IT, helping companies save billions in technology costs and energy before being acquired by BMC Software in 2010.

ContentWise, founded in 2007, created a software platform that uses data to personalize customer experiences. Today, the company’s technology serves hundreds of millions of users worldwide for clients including ITV, Telenor, RAI and Telefonica.

Cleafy emerged from our recognition that cybersecurity needed to move from reactive to predictive. Today, Cleafy protects over 100 million digital banking users from financial fraud following its €10 million funding round led by United Ventures.

Akamas addresses the growing complexity of cloud optimization, using machine learning to optimize enterprise applications and cloud infrastructure. Following its $10 million funding round, Akamas is expanding globally from its first US office in Boston.

What's next?

The IoT revolution continues to reshape entire industries. Arduino’s acquisition by Qualcomm Technologies accelerates this transformation, combining accessible development tools with world-class semiconductor technology.

For Moviri, this milestone reinforces our commitment to serial entrepreneurship. We continue to identify opportunities where AI and emerging technologies can address mission-critical enterprise challenges. Our model – generating ideas through customer work, nurturing them with strategic support, and helping them evolve into independent companies – has proven effective across multiple domains.

As we celebrate Arduino’s achievement, we remain focused on the future. Our consulting and technology businesses continue to work together, identifying the next generation of opportunities that will define how enterprises leverage technology to solve their most pressing challenges.

Announcements, Arduino, Corporate, IoT, Moviri

From Innovation to Industry Leader: Arduino’s Journey to Qualcomm Technologies

07 Oct

The Arduino vision: From education to enterprise

Moviri's role in Arduino's evolution

Why Qualcomm Technologies matters

The Moviri innovation model at work

What's next?

Categories

Stay up to date

Business Lines

Company

Help?

Follow Us