IoT carrier 1NCE has raised $50m in capital provided by Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank and other investors.

The German company offers cellular device connectivity at a fixed price in over 100 countries via 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, NB-IoT and LTE-M. Its cloud-based connectivity platform includes IoT services such as plug-and-play setup and device management.

It will use the money to accelerate international expansion and fuel growth in the USA and Asia, further develop its cloud based IoT platform services and recruit talent to expand its product capabilities to simplify the development of cellular based IoT worldwide.

“With SoftBank, we have gained an investor who brings in expertise from investments in telecommunications, IoT and clean energy technology providers,” said Alexander Sator, CEO and founder of 1NCE. “We are thrilled to work with them to leverage the new opportunities in Asia and the USA that come with the engagement.”

The company’s offering provides the tools to scale and manage IoT deployments efficiently, while providing a transparent cost structure. This tackles problems that too often stand in the way of mass IoT deployments. The reduction of complexity, implementation time and cost should allow users to speed up time-to-market and drive their business forward successfully.

Deutsche Telekom is committed to its investment in 1NCE. The telecom giant has been on board as seed investor since the company’s founding in 2017 and uses 1NCE technology for its own IoT offerings. The investment by SoftBank expands on the recent strategic partnership formalised between SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom and provides an opportunity to co-invest in global connectivity platforms focused on enterprise customers.

“1NCE has already demonstrated its disruptive potential in the IoT market, and its growth to date has underpinned its claim to leadership in cellular- based connectivity services,” said Timotheus Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “As a technology partner from the very first hour, we are happy to actively foster further growth.”

Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International, added: “1NCE is a leader in connecting millions of low bandwidth sensors around the world. Using their technology offers incredible opportunities for our portfolio companies. With our investment in 1NCE, we look forward to accelerating the breakthrough of connectivity on the internet of things.”

1NCE manages ten million connections for more than 7000 business customers from around the globe. Its services are available through direct sales and online channels. Additionally, the company is a premium technology partner of Amazon Web Services with exclusive offerings for developers on AWS Marketplace.

The fully-fledged IoT network carrier offers fast, secure and reliable connectivity services at low cost based on an IoT flat rate. This makes IoT applications such as tank maintenance, smart metering or vehicle telematics affordable. The flat rate includes 500Mbyte data volume, 250 SMS, and free access to the 1NCE connectivity management platform via internet and API. To provide the service, 1NCE cooperates with both Deutsche Telekom and its roaming partners as well as China Telecom Global and supports all common mobile communications standards.

In addition to direct sales of IoT mobile connectivity, 1NCE also offers its technology to mobile network operators via a platform-as-a-service.

The company headquartered in Cologne offers its flat rate almost world-wide. It was founded in 2017 together with Deutsche Telekom and has 100 staff in Cologne, Hamburg, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Paris, Warsaw and Riga.