Hiber today announced it has closed a 26 million euro ($30.5 million USD) investment round to expand its global Internet of Things (IoT) network, with participation from the EU and private investors. The company also noted the hires of two senior executives to build out its management team.
“The €26 million funding is a fantastic validation for Hiber’s success and a major boost for the European ‘New Space’ sector,” said Coen Janssen, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Hiber. “It is a key step in realizing our aim of making the Internet of Things really simple and available for everyone in remote and developing regions of the world.”
The European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), the EU’s innovation agency, awarded Hiber a share of its €278 million Innovation Fund, co-investing with an innovation credit provided by the Dutch government and existing shareholders. Hiber is one of three companies to receive the maximum investment from the EIC Fund. Other participants in this round include Finch Capital, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and Hartenlust Group.
“I am glad to announce the EIC Fund support to this highly innovative company aiming at creating a European champion in the satellite Internet of Things sector,” Nicklas Bergman, European Innovation Council Fund Committee Member said. “This equity financing will help Hiber to enable affordable and ubiquitous connectivity for the IoT solutions.”
Funds from the round will be used further expand its satellite network and grow its customer base. Founded in 2016, Hiber launched its first two IoT satellites in 2018. The initial 6U satellites were joined by two more advanced 3U satellites in January and March of this year launched on SpaceX and Soyuz rideshare missions.
Over the last six months, Hiber has ramped up its marketing and product efforts by announcing turnkey solutions for vertical markets. The company introduced a remote oil & gas well monitoring solution in November 2019 and a heavy equipment monitoring solution earlier this month. The oil well monitoring solution has been “proven” by Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) and Royal Dutch Shell (better known as just “Shell”) on an abandoned on-shore well.
Today’s additions to the company’s management team include Steven Kroonsberg at the CFO position and Roel Jansen as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Jansen will be focused on implementing an IoT-as-a-Service model for the company. Co-founder of Hiber Laurens Groenendijk is stepping aside as Managing Director to turn his attention to his other investment initiatives.
Hiber’s announcement underlines a larger surge in satellite IoT activity over the past six months as companies ramp up launching satellites for their respective IoT constellations, with Astrocast, Fleet Space, Kepler Communications, Myriota, Sateliot, and Swarm Technologies all adding to their in-orbit counts.
