2023-07-21 12:33:18
Posted Jul 21, 2023, 11:28 a.m.Updated Jul 21, 2023, 2:33 p.m.
UnaBiz in Singapore draws up a rather positive first assessment of its takeover, in April 2022, of the assets of Sigfox in Toulouse, the network operator for the Internet of Things (IoT) which had filed for bankruptcy. This former operator of the Sigfox network in Taiwan and Singapore took over the brand, the 223 patents and 126 of the 200 employees of Sigfox SA and its subsidiary Sigfox France, which operated the French network.
The US subsidiary had been liquidated earlier. The former star IoT start-up founded in 2010 had raised 277 million euros to deploy its low-speed, low-cost “zero G” radio network in 77 countries, employing up to 450 employees. But it sank last year due to insufficient turnover, which fell from 48 million euros in 2017 to 24 million in 2020.
Headquarters still in Singapore
After the takeover of staff, UnaBiz employs 220 employees but does not communicate its turnover, which amounted to 18 million dollars in 2021. It has not yet moved its headquarters to France, as required by Bercy for the takeover. According to its founding president, Henri Bong, the network’s recurring revenue has increased by 20% in 2023 and the financial situation has improved. “Sigfox was losing 60 to 80 million dollars a year because of R&D expenses and a large workforce when it did not meet the market,” he explains. We have reduced the entity’s losses from $54 million in 2021 to less than $20 million in 2022, and we will lose less than $15 million this year.” He hopes for a return to equilibrium at the end of 2024.
The number of objects connected to the network has increased from 9.8 million in April 2022 to 11.4 million, but Sigfox claimed 20 million in 2021. The network has 1,500 customers including DHL, Securitas, TotalEnergies, BNP and Société Générale. Even if the IoT market has not taken off as hoped, UnaBiz believes that Sigfox’s technology is difficult to replace because it consumes very little energy thanks to its asynchronous radio network, which does not require synchronization for sending messages.
Network convergence
To develop the IoT market, UnaBiz is no longer limited to the Sigfox network. It also offers businesses competing technologies from the LoRa alliance, mobile telephone networks, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth depending on usage. It has signed partnerships with members of the LoRa alliance such as Senet in the United States. “We stop the war of protocols, says Henri Bong. Some sensors will be dual-mode and will work with LoRa in the United States and Sigfox in Europe. Murata and Seongji are already making them. You have to give customers a choice to get bigger contracts. »
The buyer is focusing on four IoT sectors, fluid meters, geolocation, building energy management and security. In April, he opened Sigfox’s object library to sensor manufacturers to bring down prices. He also wants to increase the margin of national network operators by offering them a fixed user price, instead of taking 40% of the revenue.
Before filing for bankruptcy, Sigfox had to move to the “Data valley” campus that the Occitanie region is finishing building in Labège (Haute-Garonne), but the building has become too big. “We are discussing better conditions to go there,” says Henri Bong, who claims to have invested 40 million dollars in the takeover of Sigfox. UnaBiz closed a $50 million fundraising in November 2022 and plans a new funding round in 2024.
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