Everactive

Everactive is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based technology company that develops batteryless, always-on wireless sensors powered by energy harvesting for the industrial Internet of Things. The enterprise provides sensing products for utilities and physical world data intelligence, enabling continuous remote monitoring and cloud-based analytics at scale without the maintenance constraints of traditional battery-operated devices. Operating with a workforce of nearly 90 employees, the company has secured multiple rounds of financing, including a recent Series E funding round totaling over $10.93 million in August 2024 and an initial seed round of $750,000. Everactive utilizes core technology originally incubated at and licensed from the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan, while its board of directors includes notable industry figures such as Greg Papadopoulos. The organization was originally founded in 2012 by Benton Calhoun, David Wentzloff, and Brendan Richardson.

High-Level Overview

Everactive is a deep-tech startup developing batteryless, self-powered Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for industrial environments, using ultra-low-power semiconductors that harvest energy from ambient sources like light, heat, and vibration.[1][3][5] It builds end-to-end systems—including hardware sensors, wireless networks, software, and cloud analytics—to monitor assets like steam traps, motors, pumps, and electrical equipment, serving industries such as oil and gas, manufacturing, paper, and food production.[1][6] These solutions solve the high costs, maintenance burdens, and sustainability issues of battery-powered sensors by enabling continuous, massive-scale data collection for improved efficiency, safety, and operational insights, with a service-based model selling data analytics.[1][5][6] Everactive demonstrates strong growth momentum through deployments in challenging industrial settings, contributions to 5G IoT standards, and a focus on hyperscale Ambient IoT to fuel AI and machine learning with physical-world data.[3][7]

Origin Story

Everactive was founded by MIT alumni Ben Calhoun and David Wentzloff, professors specializing in ultra-low-power electronics, who envisioned scaling IoT to trillions of devices without the environmental nightmare of battery waste—calculating up to 274 million daily replacements even with decade-long battery life.[5][6] The idea emerged from their shared academic background and projections of IoT proliferation, leading them to tackle the full-stack challenge of energy harvesting, networking, radios, and processing for batteryless operation.[5] Mark Nunn joined as CEO, bringing startup and Intel experience, shifting focus to industrial applications with a data-centric business model.[5] Early traction came from building complete solutions like steam trap monitors, evolving from chips to full services with wireless networks and analytics, now powering sensors that last over 20 years with minimal maintenance.[6]

Core Differentiators

• Batteryless Energy Harvesting: Patented systems-on-chip (SoCs) harvest from multiple sources (dim light at 100 lux, heat differentials under 10°F, vibrations), with intelligent power management for continuous operation—delivering 1,000x lower power than traditional devices and infinite lifetime versus battery fade.[1][3][6][7]
• Ultra-Low-Power Communication: Always-on wakeup receivers compatible with WiFi, Bluetooth, sub-GHz, and 5G IoT standards; Evernet proprietary network supports thousands of devices over 250-1,000m non-line-of-sight with millisecond latency.[3][7]
• Full-Stack Industrial Solutions: End-to-end hardware, networking, and cloud analytics for hyperscale deployments; senses temperature, vibration, pressure, acceleration; outperforms batteries by providing more frequent data.[1][6][7]
• Scalability and Standards Influence: Enables monitoring in hard-to-reach spots, feeding AI/ML with trillions of physical data points; active in 3GPP for future 5G IoT, reducing power by 100x.[3][7][10]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Everactive rides the Ambient IoT and hyperscale sensing wave, capturing physical-world data from trillions of industrial assets to bridge the gap in today's user-generated digital datasets, powering advanced AI/ML models.[3][10] Timing aligns with surging demand for sustainable IIoT amid net-zero pressures, battery waste concerns, and 5G maturation, where traditional sensors fail at scale due to maintenance costs.[5][7] Market forces like industrial digital transformation, energy efficiency mandates, and edge computing favor its batteryless tech, enabling "factory of the future" with 20+ year sensors in sectors like manufacturing and energy.[6] It influences the ecosystem by standardizing low-power IoT, partnering globally, and shifting models from hardware sales to data services, accelerating adoption in battery-constrained environments.[1][5]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Everactive is poised to dominate batteryless IIoT as 5G NR and edge AI scale, expanding from steam traps and machinery to broader Ambient IoT ecosystems with SoC licensing for custom devices.[3][7] Trends like AI-driven predictive maintenance, regulatory sustainability pushes, and hyperscale data needs will propel growth, potentially through partnerships or acquisitions like its past IMS division sale.[4] Its influence may evolve into a foundational IoT enabler, unlocking trillions in untapped industrial data value while redefining scalable, green sensing—turning the battery-less vision into industrial reality.[3][5][10]