iWire, one of the emerging leaders in IoT (Internet of Things) and a long-standing partner of Sigfox, the 0G network pioneer and leading IoT service provider, announced that it will be the exclusive operator for Sigfox in the Indian market.
The India availability announcement coincides with its’ Series A US$34 million fundraise led by Noor Capital and supported by Bpifrance, the French sovereign wealth fund and a leading Export Credit Agency in Europe (Bpifrance Assurance Export acting on behalf of the French State). Bpifrance has granted a long-term equipment purchase option to iWire, through a US$25 million buyer credit agreement, exclusively for the development of Sigfox networks in 12 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, including India.
The investment will be utilized by iWire to expand, over the coming years, its geographic presence across 12 countries, by building the digital communication infrastructure to power massive IoT. iWire has so far raised over US$47 million, over the past three years. The demand for dedicated IoT networks is growing worldwide and considering billions of connected devices, the timing of the network deployment is highly significant. iWire has already deployed the Sigfox network in the UAE in 2019. While extending its network coverage to India, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia is the immediate priority, in 2022, it will expand the network to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a few more countries in the Middle East & Africa.
We believe India is at a crucial inflection point and the pandemic is only accelerating the transformation further. This is the best time for us to be here
In his comments, Ahmed Fasih Akhtar, CEO of iWire said, “We offer our customers an alternative to legacy connectivity solutions, thus enabling successful digital transformation at a lower cost of ownership. Our solutions contribute to our customers’ business efficiencies as well as their satisfaction. We believe India is at a crucial inflection point and the pandemic is only accelerating the transformation further. This is the best time for us to be here. Besides, our knowledge of deploying IoT networks has led to a deep understanding of the various challenges faced by the industry positions iWire well in delivering added value to emerging markets like India.”
“Companies and organizations across the world are embracing IoT and 0G to transform the way they operate. We are thrilled to have a great company like iWire amongst our incredible community of Sigfox Operators, now representing us in India as well. There has been significant interest in India to our network and offering which iWire will now look to build on,” added Jeremy Prince, the CEO of Sigfox.
