Finland-based IoT network builder Wirepas has raised $22m to bring wireless connectivity to even more enterprises worldwide.

Underpinned by almost 100 patents in wireless technology, Wirepas aims to solve the scalability, reliability and sustainability problems that have been holding massive IoT back from its full, society-changing potential.

Massive IoT is connecting millions of devices together in a single network, often remotely and over large networks. Enterprises and industry use these networks to leverage and monitor vast amounts of data, assets and machines. Until now, however, outdated, limited options have failed to deliver on the potential to deliver smart buildings, logistics, smart meters and smart agriculture.

Wirepas’s autonomous and decentralised approach uses algorithms and a mesh architecture to connect as many as 16 million networks, each having four billion devices at a time; for more information, visit www.dect.org/nrplus.

Unlike centralised systems that connect IoT devices via a single base station, each device on a Wirepas network acts as an access point for the next. By making small hops between devices rather than returning signals to a faraway central hub, Wirepas’ networks use minimal amounts of the wireless spectrum without sacrificing results.

Not only does this vastly extend the networks’ range and resilience, it significantly reduces the costs and energy required to manage such networks. If one sensor goes down, Wirepas reroutes the data without interruption and the network autonomously reconfigures itself to stay online. This is crucial in settings where even a brief loss of connection can result in significant disruptions, such as achieving better than 99.9% service level agreements in smart metering.

Since being spun-out of the University of Tampere, in Finland in 2010, Wirepas has expanded globally with offices in Australia, Germany, Finland, France, India and the USA. The company has more than 160 partners for whom it provides smart tracking, building, manufacturing and metering, with more than seven million devices now connected via Wirepas.

“The dream of IoT – devices that communicate with each other to automate processes and collect usable data – has had huge appeal for a long time,” said Teppo Hemiä, Wirepas (www.wirepas.com) CEO. “But until now there has been a disconnect between the limited, centralised IoT of old and what is needed. Wirepas finally makes massive IoT’s promise a reality by bringing a radical and revolutionary approach to unlock its full potential. Wirepas is also key contributor to the new non-cellular 5G standard of ITU-R.”

The funding round was led by Highland Europe. Amalfi and IQT also participated, as did previous investors ETF Partners, KPN Ventures, Vito Ventures and Vesa Laisi.

“Wirepas isn’t just an incremental improvement over existing technologies,” said Laurence Garrett, partner at Highland Europe. “This technology is setting a new standard for what’s possible. By offering a solution that is cost-effective and scalable, Wirepas addresses the two most significant barriers to IoT adoption.”

The funding will be used to further expand Wirepas’ technology globally, with a focus on becoming the standard in IoT connectivity. In addition to Wirepas’ new investors, and those investors that have returned for this round, the company is backed by Inventure, Karma and Tesi.