Andreessen Horowitz, Ribbit Capital, 10T Holdings, Alameda Research, and Multicoin Capital Invest $111M into the Helium Network to Help Scale 5G Nationwide

Helium Inc., a pioneer in decentralized wireless networks, today announced Andreessen Horowitz with additional participation from Ribbit Capital, 10T Holdings, Alameda Research, and Multicoin Capital invested $111 million into the Helium Network. The new raise will accelerate the rollout of its decentralized 5G network and support mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) as they leverage Helium 5G to expand their coverage.

The investments signal strong support for the Helium Network’s innovative, blockchain-enabled approach to decentralizing connectivity and expanding access to the Internet. The highly-anticipated 5G network presents a significant new opportunity to realize the long-held — but yet to be delivered — promise of 5G accessibility for everyone. 

“Helium built and deployed an entirely new wireless network from scratch and achieved global adoption across more than 11,000 cities around the world in less than 24 months. It is the fastest rollout of a new wireless network ever, a truly impressive and remarkable feat,” said Ali Yahya, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "Helium represents an entirely new business model for deploying wireless networks at scale at a fraction of the cost. We’re incredibly optimistic about Helium’s potential to provide comprehensive 5G connectivity across the world in a way that’s faster and more capital efficient than traditional telecom infrastructure.”  

Co-founded by former video game entrepreneur Amir Haleem and Napster founder Shawn Fanning, Helium offers a decentralized, open alternative to the legacy way of deploying wireless infrastructure. 

In less than two years following the Helium Network’s 2019 launch, Helium community members have deployed more than 112,000 Hotspots (wireless devices powered by the Helium Blockchain) worldwide, with an astonishing 1,000+ additional units being deployed every day. The Network now includes Hotspots in more than 11,000 cities worldwide, spanning 112 countries. There are more than 500,000 additional Hotspots currently back-ordered waiting to come online and over 50 new manufacturers waiting to be approved to build and sell Helium-compatible hardware.

Hotspots mine HNT, the native network token, as an incentive for expanding and strengthening wireless coverage. Hosts, consumers who operate the Hotspots, are rewarded with HNT whenever their Hotspots provide coverage and transfer device data. Helium’s first wireless network, the LongFi Network, is designed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices using the LoRaWAN wireless protocol. It serves as a blueprint for how all wireless network infrastructure can be rapidly deployed in the future, including 5G. 

“Helium shows that crypto incentives can be leveraged to deploy real-world infrastructure. Helium has a tremendous opportunity to bring 5G to the masses around the world and greatly enrich the quality of their lives,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of Alameda Research.

“The investment we are seeing is a testament to our belief that an incentive-based model is the future,” said co-founder and CEO Amir Haleem. “Helium’s decentralized network empowers individuals to create a blanket of connectivity while also owning a piece of it rather than continuing with the status quo. We believe our Helium 5G network has the potential to rewrite the rules and we’re thrilled to see others share that belief.”

The demand for using the Helium Network has steadily grown. The use of Data Credits, which are required to send data over the Helium Network, has risen to nearly half a trillion with more than 178 billion Data Credits burned per month. The Helium Network has a fixed supply and underwent a halving event on August 1. 

The Helium Network is now used to support asset tracking, air and water quality monitoring, and smart infrastructure by partners including Abeeway, Airly, Agulus, Careband, Conserv, Digital Matter, Invoxia, LoneStar, NexMachina, Nobel Systems, NOWi, Barnacle, Victor®, and Southern Connecticut University. 

To learn more about Helium, mining HNT, and companies using the Network, visit Helium.com. 

About Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz backs bold entrepreneurs who move fast, think big, and are committed to building the next major franchises in technology. Founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the firm provides entrepreneurs with access to expertise and insights in innovation, executive and technical talent, market intelligence, business development, and marketing and brand-building. Find us at www.a16z.com.

About Alameda Research

Alameda Research is a quantitative trading firm bringing expertise from Wall Street and Silicon Valley to provide liquidity in crypto markets worldwide. Our vision is a diverse trading landscape that possesses the maturity, stability, and sophistication we have come to expect from mainstream financial markets. With decades of experience from Jane Street, Optiver, Susquehanna, Facebook, and Google, we’ve built the most sophisticated trading systems in the crypto world and quote extremely tight OTC spreads. Learn more about Alameda Research at https://www.alameda-research.com/.

About 10T Holdings

10T Holdings invests exclusively at the growth stage in private companies operating in the digital asset ecosystem. We take a macro view and back the blue-chip companies that will shape the future. Our investments have included Kraken, Ledger, Figure, Deribit, Bitfury, Huobi, eToro, and others. Find us at www.10TFund.com. 

About Helium

Co-founded by Shawn Fanning and Amir Haleem in 2013, Helium is building the world’s first peer-to-peer wireless network to simplify connecting devices to the Internet by rewarding anyone to become a network operator. CEO Amir Haleem comes from an extensive background in triple-A video games. Helium is backed by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Khosla Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Multicoin Capital, FirstMark, Marc Benioff, Shawn Fanning and other top VCs. The Network is live in more than 11,000 cities globally. More information can be found at helium.com.

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