Supply Chain · Profile from Supply Chain Research Companion
Samsara
Samsara Inc., the San Francisco-based "connected operations" software company founded in 2015 by Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket — who had earlier co-founded Meraki, the cloud-managed networking company bought by Cisco — that sells fleets and other physical-operations businesses a subscription cloud fed by its own devices: vehicle gateways for telematics and electronic logging, AI dash-cams, asset and equipment trackers and site cameras. Listed on the NYSE since Dec 2021 (ticker IOT), it reported FY2026 (year to 31 Jan 2026) revenue of ~$1,618.6m (+30%) and ARR of ~$1,889.9m, a GAAP operating loss of ~$52.6m (from ~$190.0m) and non-GAAP operating income of ~$282.4m (company 8-K, 5 Mar 2026; blueprint Shared facts), and by the quarter to 1 Aug 2026 ARR of ~$2,124.7m (+30%) and a fourth consecutive GAAP-profitable quarter (company release, 3 Sep 2026). Its story turns on the flow-equation factor of cost to serve — not its own, but its customers': Samsara sells fleets lower fuel, accident, insurance and maintenance costs per mile, which is why it grew ~30% a year through the 2022–25 freight recession while many of the trucking companies it sells to shrank. Its failures and setbacks include years of heavy GAAP losses driven by stock-based compensation, and a patent campaign against its main rival, Motive, that it lost at the US International Trade Commission (initial determination Sep 2025, affirmed Feb 2026), even as it won a ~$30.3m arbitration award over Motive's marketing claims (reported).
At a glance
- Founded
- 2015, San Francisco, by Sanjit Biswas (CEO) and John Bicket (CTO), co-founders of Meraki (bought by Cisco in 2012 for ~$1.2bn, reported from memory, verify)
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California; offices in Atlanta, London, Amsterdam, Mexico, Canada and elsewhere (company, verify list)
- Ownership / structure
- Public since Dec 2021 (NYSE: IOT); dual-class shares give the founders voting control (company S-1 structure, verify percentages)
- Leadership (2026)
- Sanjit Biswas (co-founder, CEO and chairman, verify title); John Bicket (co-founder, CTO); CFO Dominic Phillips (reported, verify)
- Segments
- One segment; products sold as applications on the Connected Operations Platform ("Connected Operations Cloud"): Video-Based Safety (AI dash-cams), Vehicle Telematics (incl. ELD compliance), Equipment Monitoring, Site Visibility, Connected Workflows/forms, Smart Trailers and asset tags (company)
- Scale
- Customers with ≥$100,000 ARR: 2,990 at 1 Nov 2025 (+219 in the quarter, a record; contributing >$1bn of ARR, +36% y/y); customers with ≥$1m ARR contributing >$500m of ARR at 1 Aug 2026 (+>50% y/y) (company releases); employees ~3,000+ (verify)
- Financials
- FY2026: revenue ~$1,618.6m (+30%); ARR ~$1,889.9m (vs ~$1,457.9m); GAAP operating loss ~$52.6m (vs ~$190.0m); non-GAAP operating income ~$282.4m (company). Q2 FY2027 (to 1 Aug 2026): revenue ~$508.4m (+30%); ARR ~$2,124.7m; net new ARR ~$134.1m; GAAP EPS $0.03; FY2027 revenue guidance raised to $2.043–2.047bn (from $2.005–2.013bn; initial guide ~$1.965–1.975bn) (company release, 3 Sep 2026)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding (2015); the ELD mandate wave (2017–18); AI dash-cams and video-based safety (from ~2019, verify); IPO (Dec 2021); large-enterprise and public-sector push (2022–); the Motive litigation (2024–26, patent loss); first GAAP-profitable quarter (Q3 FY2026, to 1 Nov 2025); $2bn+ ARR and the FY2027 guidance (2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2015
Founding by Meraki Founders
Founding
2017
ELD Mandate and Fleet Telematics
Technology bet riding a regulatory mandate; customer acquisition wave
2019
AI Dash Cams and Video Based Safety
Technology bet (computer vision at the edge)
2021
IPO on the NYSE
IPO
2022
Large Enterprise and Public Sector Push
Strategy pivot — moving upmarket to large enterprises and public-sector fleets; multi-product expansion
2024
Motive Patent and Trade Secret Litigation
Regulatory, customs or legal action — patent, trade-secret and false-advertising litigation (ITC patent case lost)
2025
First GAAP Profitable Quarter
Financial milestone — GAAP profitability (result of cost discipline and scale)
2026
Two Billion ARR and FY2027 Guidance
Growth at scale — FY2026 results, crossing $2bn ARR and raising FY2027 guidance