SIGFOX

Sigfox is a French company that provides a global, low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) specifically designed for the Internet of Things (IoT). Founded in 2010 by Ludovic Le Moan and Christophe Fourtet, the firm was established to address the significant barriers to IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption, and scalability. Fourtet, with a background in radio technologies and semiconductors from companies like Motorola and Freescale, brought deep technical expertise, while Le Moan provided the business vision.

The company's core offering is a proprietary wireless network, often referred to as the "0G network," that enables small, battery-powered devices to send short messages (up to 12 bytes) over long distances. This is achieved through Ultra Narrowband (UNB) radio modulation, which allows signals to travel far and penetrate solid objects while consuming very little energy—so little that a device can potentially operate for years on a single set of AA batteries. The network architecture is a one-hop star topology, where devices transmit data to multiple local base stations, which then forward the information to the Sigfox Cloud for processing and delivery to a customer's own backend platform via APIs. This design centralizes network complexity in the cloud, simplifying device hardware and reducing its cost.

Sigfox's business model is centered on providing this end-to-end connectivity as a service. Revenue is generated primarily through annual subscription fees paid by customers based on the number of connected devices and message volume. The company also licensed its technology to network operators in over 70 countries, creating a global network without the need for roaming agreements. This model serves a wide range of industries, including logistics and asset tracking, smart cities, security, healthcare, and utilities, by enabling cost-effective monitoring of non-powered assets and other low-data use cases.

After raising over $300 million from prominent investors like Intel, Salesforce, and Samsung, Sigfox faced challenges with the slower-than-expected adoption of its technology and filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2022. In April 2022, the company and its core technology were acquired by UnaBiz, a Singapore-based IoT service provider and an existing Sigfox network operator, for a reported €25 million. Under new ownership, UnaBiz aims to foster convergence between LPWAN technologies and has made the Sigfox device library code public to encourage interoperability.

Keywords: Sigfox, UnaBiz, LPWAN, 0G network, Internet of Things, IoT connectivity, M2M communication, low-power network, asset tracking, smart metering, global IoT network, Ludovic Le Moan, Christophe Fourtet, Ultra Narrowband, long-range communication, device-to-cloud, IoT service provider, supply chain monitoring, smart cities solutions, IoT infrastructure, low-cost connectivity, energy-efficient networking, IoT platform