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Vito Ventures and Inventure invest in Wirepas to close Series A funding

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Wirepas, a global device connectivity provider has raised an additional 1.5 million euros in Series A funding from Vito Ventures and Inventure, adding to the initial 1.5 million it raised in August 2015 from Inventure. Wirepas will use the funding to accelerate growth by extending its global presence further, strengthening R&D and building brand awareness.

-  We are very excited to back Wirepas’ outstanding team. We are convinced, that the company’s singular technology has the potential to be one of the key enablers in a world of smart and connected things. Being the industrial powerhouse of Europe, Germany offers a tremendous market opportunity for Wirepas. We will try to open as many doors as possible, Dr. Benedikt Herles, Managing Partner of Vito Ventures says.

The market for the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet and device connectivity is developing rapidly. Both the number of different applications and the volume of connected devices are growing fast. One of the key enablers for this development is the connectivity. Wirepas estimates, based on market studies, that in 2022 about 15 billion devices will be connected with non-cellular technologies and out of these about three billion represent the annual addressable market for Wirepas.

- We have been very pleased with the development of the company since our initial investment. We believe that there is a great opportunity ahead of them in connecting billions of devices within the upcoming years, Sami Lampinen, Managing Partner at Inventure comments.

Wirepas has an extremely focused strategy with a unique business model. The strategy is based on four corner stones:

  • Focus on providing the most reliable, optimized, scalable and simple-to-use device connectivity for the customers.
  • Focus on the software for de-centralized device connectivity – and nothing else.
  • Focus on large scale IoT applications where the company can create unique value and an optimized solution for the customers.
  • Focus on building partnerships to enable turnkey solutions for end customers.

- Wirepas has a unique connectivity solution for large-scale IoT applications. It has the potential to become the market leader in large-scale device connectivity. Our target is to connect one billion devices for good before the end of 2022, Wirepas CEO Teppo Hemiä summarizes.

Further information:

* Teppo Hemiä, CEO, +358 (0)50 561 0198, teppo.hemia(at)wirepas.com

* Sebastian Linko, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, +358 (0)40 023 6607, sebastian.linko(at)wirepas.com

Wirepas in brief

Wirepas is focused on providing the most reliable, optimized, scalable and simple to use connectivity for large-scale IoT applications. With Wirepas Connectivity there is no need for traditional repeaters, because every wireless device is a smart router of the network. The connected devices form the network - easy as that. In nature, things are communicating and making autonomous decisions based on de-centralized protocols that fulfill the need as efficiently as possible – nothing more, nothing less. This is also what Wirepas is all about. Wirepas has its headquarters in Tampere, Finland and offices in Brazil, France and the United States.

Things connected - Naturally, www.wirepas.com

Inventure in brief

Inventure is a leading early-stage venture capital company in the Nordics and Baltics. Inventure invests in innovative and fast-growing companies, led by exceptional entrepreneurs that are willing to disrupt their industries. Inventure’s team is a great mix of experienced entrepreneurs, industry experts, and investment professionals committed to help start-ups build global success stories. Inventure operates in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Shanghai. For more information, please visit www.inventure.fi.

Vito in brief

Vito Ventures is a new global early stage Venture Capital fund investing in the fields of Internet of Things, Enterprise- and Energy-Tech. Based in Munich and following the fundamental values of German Engineering, Vito Ventures backs rigorous executors and creative visionaries building transformative businesses models. By leveraging its industrial investor base, Vito Ventures helps entrepreneurs get access to extensive resources and deep technological domain expertise. www.vito.vc