IoT service provider Sigfox is available in India through its long-standing global partner iWire. It plans to set up centres in Bengaluru and Mumbai and possibly New Delhi later.

IWire has raised $34m in series A funding led by Noor Capital and supported by BPI France to accelerate its foray into newer markets including India.

IWire will be the exclusive operator for Sigfox in the Indian market. BPI France has granted a long-term equipment purchase option to iWire, through a $25m buyer credit agreement, exclusively for the development of Sigfox networks in 12 countries across Asia, Middle East and Africa, including India.

The investment will be used by iWire to expand its geographic presence over the coming years across 12 countries by building the digital communication infrastructure to power massive IoT.

IWire has raised over $47m over the past three years. The demand for dedicated IoT networks is growing worldwide. It deployed the Sigfox network in the UAE in 2019. While extending its network coverage to India, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Tunisia is the immediate priority, in 2022 it will expand the network to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a few more countries in the Middle East and Africa.

“We offer our customers an alternative to legacy connectivity, thus enabling successful digital transformation at a lower cost of ownership,” said Ahmed Fasih Akhtar, CEO of iWire. “Our solutions contribute to our customers’ business efficiencies as well as their satisfaction. We believe India is at a crucial inflection point and the pandemic is only accelerating the transformation further. This is the best time for us to be here. Besides, our knowledge of deploying IoT networks has led to deep understanding of the various challenges faced by the industry, positioning iWire well in delivering added value to emerging markets like India.”

Jeremy Prince, CEO of Sigfox, added: “Companies and organisations across the world are embracing IoT and 0G to transform the way they operate. We are thrilled to have a great company like iWire among our incredible community of Sigfox operators, now representing us in India as well. There has been significant interest in India to our network and offering, which iWire will now look to build on.”

Noor Capital is a private joint stock company headquartered in Abu Dhabi. BPI France finances companies at every stage of their development with credit, guarantees and equity.

Founded in 2010, French firm Sigfox is an IoT service provider offering a combination of low-cost and low-power technologies supported by a global network, enabling businesses to gain visibility and track their assets worldwide. With more than 17 million connected devices and 70 million messages sent a day, Sigfox helps its customers extract data to accelerate their digital transformation in key areas such as asset tracking and supply chain. It has offices in Boston, Dallas, Dubai, Madrid, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Tokyo.

Launched in 2018, UAE-based iWire builds country-wide communications networks to power massive IoT using Sigfox technology. It also designs and develops IoT products for achieving digital transformation.