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Amsterdam, 30 March 2021 | European satellite and communications start-up, Hiber BV has secured €26 million in EU and private investment to expand the world’s first global IoT (Internet of Things) satellite network.
The European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), the EU’s innovation agency, has awarded Hiber a share of its €278 million Innovation Fund, which will enable the EU to play a prominent role in the global space sector and enhance its autonomy. The EIC has co-invested with an innovation credit provided by the Dutch government and existing shareholders.
Hiber’s in-house-developed satellite constellation will ensure that it is possible to track and monitor machines and devices for a wide range of IoT solutions in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places. The funds will be used to further expand the satellite network and grow its customer base.
Coen Janssen, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Hiber, commented: “The €26 million funding is a fantastic validation for Hiber’s success and a major boost for the European ‘New Space’ sector. It is a key step in realising our aim of making the Internet of Things really simple and available for everyone in remote and developing regions of the world.” Hiber was founded in 2016 to make IoT easy, especially in areas where there is no affordable cellular or WiFi connection. Hiber’s scaling of the satellite network and innovative IoT solutions will have significant positive impact on some of the biggest issues facing the world today, from eliminating food wastage to reducing the environmental impact of extracting fossil fuels.
“Every year, 30 percent of food production is lost or wasted and 33 percent of oil wells experience leakages. Both problems can be addressed by using technology to monitor pressure, humidity or temperature. These are great examples of how space innovation can solve important global problems and improve lives,” continued Coen Janssen.
Nicklas Bergman, European Innovation Council Fund Committee Member commented: “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. This equity financing will help Hiber to enable affordable and ubiquitous connectivity for the IoT solutions.” Elia Montanari, Head of Management and Control at the European Space Agency, commented: “This major success has been supported at European level by collaboration of major EU bodies (EIC, EIB, ESA) fostering the Space Value Chain.” Hiber's selection as one of three companies to receive the maximum investment from the EIC Fund is in recognition of the shining role it can play in supporting the EU’s agenda. The Fund also targets the funding gap at the start-up and scale-up stage, where European venture capital market relatively underperforms as compared to the global venture capital market. Steven Kroonsberg and Roel Jansen are joining Hiber to take their position in the management team. Steven will take on the role of CFO having been former Principal at Boston Consulting Group and CFO at WePayPeople, exited to People2.0. Roel was Vice President Sales at Survey Monkey and Co-founder and CCO at Usabilla (exited to Survey Monkey). Roel’s task as CCO will be to implement an “IoT-as-a-Service'' commercial model for the company. Co-founder of Hiber, Laurens Groenendijk, will step aside as Managing Director to turn his attention to his other investment initiatives.
For more information and interview requests, please contact: Sharmee Mavadia: Sharmee@sharppr.co.uk on 07904 732 273
EU EIC Fund
Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between €500.000 and €15 million) in European high impact and deep tech start-ups and scale ups. The EIC Fund provides patient capital and invests in companies from any sector, across all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon 2020. The Fund pays particular attention to empower and support female founders as well as contributing to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is not to maximise financial investment returns, but to have a high impact by accompanying companies with disruptive technologies in their growth. Its objective is to crowd in market players, further sharing risks by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow on funding.
About Hiber Hiber is a ‘NewSpace’ startup, founded and led by a dream team of satellite experts and tech entrepreneurs. Hiber’s mission is to bring IoT solutions to areas where there’s never been affordable cellular access or wifi. To date, the company has managed to attract significant funding and is part of the selected companies in the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. In 2020, Hiber’s end-to-end solution for Oil & Gas Well Integrity Monitoring, the first subscription service of its kind in the industry, became a reality under the name of HiberHilo. In 2021, Hiber launched HiberHeavy, a subscription-based heavy equipment monitoring solution. The company employs more than 60 people around the world and has offices in Amsterdam and Delft in the Netherlands, and Maryland in the United States. Learn more at www.hiber.global.
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