Hiber BV, a European satellite and communications startup, has recently announced raising approximately 26 million euros in EU and private investment, in a bid to boost its IoT satellite network. The funding comes from the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund), which boasts of a 278 million euros Innovation Fund.
As per credible reports, EIC had co-invested with an innovation credit offered by the Dutch government and current stakeholders. Some of the other investors that took part in the funding round include, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Finch Capital, and Hartenlust Group.
Moreover, Co-Founder of Hiber, Laurens Groenendijk is expected to step aside as a managing director to turn his focus to other investment initiatives, while Steven Kroonsberg would step up as a CFO and Roel Jansen as CCO.
Speaking on the recent achievement, Hiber Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, Coen Janssen cited that the 26 million euros funding stands to be a vital validation for the company’s success and a major boost for the European ‘New Space’ segment.
He believes that this stands to be a key step in realizing the company’s aim of making IoT really simple and accessible for everyone in the emerging and remote regions of the world.
While on the other hand, Nicklas Bergman, a Committee Member in European Innovation Council Fund, stated that the organization is glad to have announced the EIC Fund support to Hiber with an aim of creating a European champion in the satellite IoT sector. He added that the equity funding will further help Hiber to enable ubiquitous and affordable connectivity for the Internet of Things solutions.
In addition to this, the head of management and Control at ESA, Elia Montanari stated that this funding emerges to be a major success supported at European level by alliance of various major EU bodies including EIC, EIB, and ESA, thereby fostering the Space Value Chain globally.
Source Credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/iot-satellite-network-startup-hiber-secures-e26m-in-funding-round-led-by-eus-innovation-agency/