Sigfox

Sigfox

Ludovic Le Moan, CEO of Sigfox
Native name	Sigfox
Industry	Internet of Things
Founded	2011
Headquarters	Labège, near Toulouse, France
Area served	Global
Key people	Ludovic Le Moan, Co-Founder & CEO; Christophe Fourtet, Co-Founder & Scientific Director
Services	Wireless Connectivity
Number of employees	310
Website	Official website

Sigfox is the world’s leading provider of connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT). Its unique approach to device-to-cloud connectivity allows the company to address the three greatest barriers to global IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption, and global scalability.

Instead of using existing cellular technologies, Sigfox has built a global network to listen to billions of devices broadcasting data. Like a radio telescope listening to tiny signals coming from the early days of the universe, Sigfox can pick-up very small signals sent by IoT devices from around the world – using the lowest amount of energy to the point where natural energy harvesting technology will be enough to power data transmissions.^[1]

Sigfox’s vision is to “Make Things Come Alive” – giving a digital voice to our physical world, and enable it to play a role in our social and economic development. Today, Sigfox is on track to cover 60 countries by 2018. With millions of objects connected to the network and a rapidly growing ecosystem of partners, Sigfox empowers companies to move their business model towards more digital services.

Sigfox was founded in 2011 by Ludovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet.^[2] Sigfox announced in November that it has raised $160 million as it continues to build out its communication network for connected objects. The latest round comes less than two years after the company raised $115 million, a sum that was then the largest round of VC funding ever raised in France.^[3]

Location

Sigfox is based in Labège, in southwestern France, at the so-called IoT Valley.^[4][5] Sigfox has more than 300 employees, most of them in Labège, a suburb of Toulouse that is a regional tech and startup center.^[6] The firm also has offices in Boston, San Francisco, Dubai, Madrid, Munich, Paris and Singapore.

Funding

During three rounds of funding, Sigfox raised $30 million from Idinvest Partners, BPI France, Intel Capital, Elaia Partners, Partech, and Ixo Private Equity.^[6][7][8]

It was reported in February 2015 that Sigfox, in a forth round of funding, had raised $115 million from seven investors "to help it build new networks globally to connect everything from washing machines to smart meters to the Internet."^[9][10] As of that year it was considering a Nasdaq listing.^[11][12] The investors were Spain's Telefónica, France's Engie, NTT DoCoMo Ventures (Docomo Capital), SK Telecom, Air Liquide, Elliott Management and Eutelsat. In June 2015, it was announced Samsung had invested an undisclosed amount towards the $115 million fundraising round. This was described as "France’s biggest round of funding ever," topping "the $100 million raised by the European ride-sharing leader BlaBlaCar" the previous summer.^[13][14][15]

In November 2016, Sigfox closed a Series E funding round of €150 million ($160 million) from investors including Total, Salesforce Ventures and Henri Seydoux, among others.^[16] The company reported that this new round of funding will enable it to expand its international network to 60 countries by 2018 and reach financial breakeven point.^[17]

Officers

Ludovic Le Moan, an engineer with a degree from ENSIMAG, is co-founder of the firm and serves as its CEO.^[13] He previously managed the COFRAMI Group, created Anyware Technologies, and founded GOOJET, now Scoop.it.^[18]

Christophe Fourtet, an engineer, is scientific director of Sigfox. He graduated from INSA (Lyon) in Electrical and Telecommunications Sciences, and holds a postdoctoral degree in Electromagnetism. He has previously worked for DGA, SAGEM, Motorola, and Freescale Semiconductor. He took part in the group that created the Motorola cell phone.^[19]

Anne Lauvergeon is Sigfox's chairman, a position formerly held by Ludovic Le Moan. She has a background in physics, chemistry, engineering, politics, and business. A former executive at several major French firms including Areva and a high-level position during the administration of François Mitterrand, she joined Sigfox as a member of the board in 2014.^[5] In 2009, she was ranked 4th in Fortune's ten most powerful international female leaders list.^[20][21]

Technology

In order to connect devices to its global network, Sigfox uses an ultra-narrow-band-based (UNB) radio technology. The company’s technology is key to providing a scalable, high-capacity network with very low energy consumption, while maintaining a light and easy-to-rollout infrastructure. The company operates in the ISM bands (license-free frequency bands), on the 902 MHz band in the U.S., as well as the 868 MHz band in Europe.

Sigfox's solution complements existing standards such as Bluetooth, 4G and WiFi - where devices need high power for constant data connection and transmission of large amounts of data.

Sigfox devices cannot carry heavy amounts of data, being able to handle approximately 12 bytes per message, and at the same time no more than 140 messages per device per day. This enables the transmission of simple messages that will cover the majority of the needs in IoT applications.^[20] For the most part, connected objects are not chatty like people, but direct like objects. They only whisper to the network. So Sigfox addresses this IoT needs by enabling devices to send wirelessly very small messages and few messages per day, thus extending battery life. The devices connected to the Sigfox network can work up to 20 years off two AA batteries, due to the fact it "wakes up whenever it sends a message, and then it goes back to sleep", according to Thomas Nicholls, Executive Vice President of communications at the company.^[22][23]

Sigfox provides a two-way communication service through its network. Two-way stands for bidirectional or duplex, meaning that messages can be sent but also received by connected devices.

Another important part of the Sigfox offer is the Sigfox Cloud. This is the interface between Sigfox, partners and customers. It is mainly used for serving data (meaning messages), but also for retrieving service map predictions (meaning coverage) or managing device fleets. The Sigfox Cloud provides a web application interface, as well as standards-based web APIs, for easy and seamless device management and data integration, providing simple integration with its customers’ IT systems.

Sigfox provides its connectivity protocol for free to leading silicon and module vendors. Its partners include Texas Instruments, Atmel, Silicon Labs, OnSemiconductor, STMicro and other chipmakers, a variety that gives IoT users a wide choice of transceivers, systems-on-chips (SOCs) and modules for connecting their devices to the network. Partner equipment and devices are validated through the Sigfox certification program to ensure optimal radio capacity and automated set up on the network. Once certified, devices can connect instantly to SIGFOX’s secure cloud, without pairing.

According to Machina Research, Global Internet of Things market to grow to 27 billion devices, generating USD3 trillion revenue in 2025

Coverage

As of November 2016 , Sigfox's network is deployed nationwide in France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Sigfox is currently rolling-out its global network in 22 additional countries. The list of countries counting where SIgfox is present includes Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mauritius Island, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, The Sultanate of Oman, the UK, the US. The company plans to expand its network to cover 60 countries by 2018, as well as reaching a financial balance.^[24]

As of November 2016, Sigfox counted with 10 million registered connected devices in 28 countries.^[25]

Sectors

Sigfox's products address the following market sectors:

• Agriculture and environment: weather monitoring; irrigation control; soil condition; security; monitoring the health of livestock; measuring river water.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31]}
• Automotive: vehicle tracking; fleet management.^[32][33]
• Construction: monitoring equipment and machines remotely; securing construction sites; construction site theft and fire supervision; worker safety.^[30][34]
• Consumer electronics: personal tracking devices; health products with monitoring of sensor statuses such as location, blood pressure and glucose levels; home automation/domotics.^[27][35]
• Emergency services and security: alarms; CCTV; fire detection and protection; access control systems; elevator communication services.^[30][36]
• Healthcare: devices enabling first responder connectivity or clinical trials monitoring.^[37][38]
• Intelligent buildings: heating; ventilation; air conditioning; lighting; security.^[34][39][40]
• Manufacturing and supply chain: devices that monitor waste and fuel consumption, inventory, maintenance variables, etc.^[41][42]
• Retail and leisure: supply chain communication, inventory management, shopping devices and communication.^[43]
• Utilities: energy theft monitoring, feedback for consumers and repair crews, public safety, waste, leakage and financial control.^[30][44][45]
• Smart city and public transport: technologies for public transport, including ticketing and passenger information systems; parking space management and payment; charging and road tolls, traffic volume monitoring; connected road signs, traffic lights and law-enforcement cameras; CCTV, street lighting, waste collection, public alarms and intercoms; tourist information services; static advertising and billboards.^[35][46]

Sigfox Foundation

Launched in January 2016 by Sigfox co-founders, Sigfox Foundation provides connectivity solutions to nonprofits and humanitarian causes worldwide. The Paris-based endowment fund is aiming to solve major issues for the environment, public health and solidarity, with a focus on causes that can be partly solved through connectivity and connected sensors.

● Now Rhinos Speak^[47]

SIGFOX Foundation is working on a special new monitoring and anti-poaching system in Africa. Rhinos poaching is now the biggest threat, that could lead to extinction in less than 10 years. Thanks to connected sensors, SIGFOX is tracking rhinos, collecting data such as GPS location and specific movements.

● Antarctica Mission^[48]

For 3 months, Sigfox Foundation has helped to secure a team of 30 researchers in Antarctica, part of The BELARE Expedition, leading climate researchers at the Princess Elisabeth.

The 30 researchers were equipped with connected trackers, giving GPS location around the Princess Elisabeth Station during glaciology operations on extreme conditions.

References

External links

• Official website