Helium Developer Acquires FreedomFi, Accelerates Mobile Services Expansion
As part of the acquisition, the FreedomFi team will join Nova Labs to lead network expansion efforts.
Helium Developer Acquires FreedomFi, Accelerates Mobile Services Expansion
Yesterday, Nova Labs, the company behind the Helium blockchain, announced the acquisition of FreedomFi, a software company focused on 5G networks. This move marks a significant step in Helium's strategy to expand into mobile communications.
Today we’re thrilled to announce FreedomFi has been acquired by @novalabs_, the founding team behind @helium! We’re joining forces to accelerate the rollout of the people's mobile network and continue our mission to make connectivity accessible to all🎈https://t.co/OfduwTDzlK pic.twitter.com/b1hj6eq3w5
— FreedomFi (@Open5G) August 18, 2022
Nova Labs CEO Amir Haleem declined to disclose the financial details or terms of the deal, stating:
“We are excited to leverage FreedomFi's expertise and move closer to advancing our ambitions in 5G mobile.”
FreedomFi Co-Founder and CEO Boris Renski expressed enthusiasm about the merger, anticipating that joining forces with Nova will pave the way for long-term innovations in the telecommunications sector.
Under the terms of the acquisition, the FreedomFi team will integrate into and contribute to Nova Labs. FreedomFi had previously raised $9.5 million from Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics in March.
Helium is renowned as a revolutionary blockchain platform aimed at transforming societal operations. The project is building a decentralized, peer-to-peer 5G network that provides bandwidth and collects data from low-power IoT (Internet of Things) devices, enabling them to communicate and transmit data through a network of nodes in a secure and cost-efficient manner.
FreedomFi is no stranger to the Helium ecosystem. In 2021, it was the first company to introduce and support Helium 5G. Since then, FreedomFi has launched the world’s first Helium-compatible mobile station, allowing anyone, regardless of their technical knowledge, to set up a mobile network from home and start mining HNT tokens.
The price of HNT soared to around $54 in 2021 but has since struggled, trading around $7.
1H Chart of HNT/USDT on Binance at 02:30 PM on 19/08/2022
Recently, the project has faced significant FUD. At the end of July, Helium was accused of "vagueness" in its business operations, though company leadership quickly dismissed the claims. On the first day of August, there was evidence suggesting Helium had used the names of Lime and Salesforce to mislead investors during its March Series D $200 million funding round. However, it appears that these issues are gradually fading from public attention.
