Rebrand to Nova Labs Helium crypto wireless network founders raised $200M updated valuation to $1.2 billion


Helium Crypto
Wireless Network declared that it brought $200 million in Series D equity
funding round which was led by Tiger Global including Andreessen Horowitz’s
a16z firm. This round led firm’s valuation to $1.2 billion. Helium Inc which is
the original creator of the Helium decentralized wireless network, has also rebrand
itself and announced a new name Nova Labs.
Seven Seven Six,
the VC firm from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Deutsche Telekom, GV
(formerly Google Ventures), Liberty Global, NGP Capital, and Goodyear Ventures
who are the VC arm of the major tire manufacturer are the other participants of
this funding round.
The new funds
will be used in investing in the Helium ecosystem. Funding additional
development resources and hiring will be done using this fund to improve the
Network; driving continued wireless protocol assistance and creating new
applications on top of the Helium Network that will be powered by
cryptocurrency. Investment will also be done to grow user base team so that it
long run driving growth for the HNT crypto, because healthy community allows
the network to operate seamlessly. Additionally, it will work further towards a
decentralized future of wireless connectivity. The company further announced about
rebranding itself to Nova Labs, a new name, which will be part of an initiative
to assist in resolving confusion between the Helium decentralized
network/project, the blockchain behind it, the Helium token (HNT), and the core
team that had started it all.
As part of this
funding, 5G deployment will be consistently outperformed by traditional ISPs
which is another priority for this funding. Since September 2021, Helium has
rapidly expanded its own 5G network to compete. Over the world there are over
650,000 hot spots connecting to Helium network till now.
The Helium
trademark has been granted to the Decentralized Wireless Alliance, which will
now be renamed as the Helium Foundation. Helium's network is managed by a
community elected governing body called the Decentralized Wireless Alliance,
which supervise aspects including proposal for network improvements.
About Helium:
In 2013, Shawn
Fanning (of Napster fame) and Amir Haleem co-founded Helium. Its initial
wireless network was developed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices like sensors
and trackers. The Helium miner/node shares home internet service over miles.
Users are rewarded in the form of HNT tokens for contributing to the network.
The network has grown rapidly. In 2021, Helium in partnership with
FreedomFia, declared about the launch of a 5G network designed for devices like
smartphones, laptops, and tablets.
At the beginning of 2021, there were 14,000 active nodes which became more than half a million by the end of the year. Today there are 680,000 nodes up and running in Helium network. In August 2021, Andreessen Horowitz also led Nova Labs’ $111 million funding round, which was executed as a token sale.
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Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA