Cube Infrastructure Fund II, a European investment fund specializing in infrastructure investments, joins Heliot. Cube is active across Europe and manages EUR 2.6 billion for institutional investors. As part of this combined transaction, Cube indirectly acquires 86% of the shares in 0G IoT network provider Heliot. The Swiss company Heliot is the exclusive operator of the Sigfox 0G IoT LPWA network in Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
Cube's investment also allows the Swiss company Heliot to take over Sigfox's 0G network in Germany. The 0G network operator and IoT solution provider Heliot thus combines the 0G networks of four countries - Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein - to form the largest 0G network in Europe. Cube's goal is to accelerate the growth of this essential and exclusive IoT infrastructure in the region.
With Cube's support, Heliot will now accelerate the expansion of the Sigfox 0G IoT network in its core European markets. Heliot's LPWA network already provides nationwide coverage for IoT applications in sectors such as logistics, agriculture, retail and industry. In Germany, there is currently 88.4% network coverage in terms of area and 85.9% in terms of population (as of August 2020). With Heliot as an exclusive Sigfox partner, customers have free access to the global 0G IoT network and an end-to-end ecosystem with more than 750 sensors and analysis tools for the cost-effective collection and evaluation of data.

0G network from the Alps to the North Sea

Thomas Scheibel, CEO of Heliot: "We look forward to working with Cube to acquire Sigfox Germany. This acquisition is an important milestone in our development and we will continue the commercial developments already initiated by Sigfox Germany with German and international Tier 1 customers in sectors such as retail, automotive and logistics. For us, this is an unprecedented opportunity and underpins our vision that started three years ago: a combined 0G network from the Alps to the North Sea."

The technology

Sigfox technology uses a low-frequency radio technology that can transport small messages over long distances. State-of-the-art sensors send their information with up to 140 messages of 12 bytes per day to the Sigfox 0G network - and already do so to around 21 million devices in 72 countries. This makes the technology energy-saving, cost-effective, virtually maintenance-free and suitable for a large number of IoT applications.