Bankruptcy application by Sigfox

Bankruptcy Sigfox

Sigfox, which raised more than € 300 million in venture capital and had ambitions to build a global communications network through a new approach to wireless networks, has filed for bankruptcy in France. Referring to slow product sales and challenging conditions in the IoT market due to Covid-19.

Sigfox is now looking for a buyer for its low-power network for IoT solutions, similar to LTE M, NB-IOT and LoRa. The network spans 75 countries, has a combined capacity of 75 carriers, 20 million connected objects and the network transmits an average of 80 million messages per day.

The details for the bankruptcy are set out in a statement the company has provided to TechCrunch. The statement noted that the company has been mainly affected by a shortage of electronic components.

A slower than expected adoption cycle for Sigfox’s technology. The Covid-19 pandemic, which has slowed business over the past two years, and the electronic components market are factors that have had a strong impact on the company’s financial situation.

For those watching the IoT market, and Sigfox in particular, this development shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The company’s auditors had issued a clear warning that the company must raise funding by the end of the year or risk bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the company’s finances speak for themselves. Public account returns for the company note that in the past fiscal year, the company posted a net loss of nearly €91 million on revenue of just over €24 million and financial debt of €118 million.

Sigfox originated at a time when IoT was still a very early concept, with few lucrative business models behind it. In the near future Sigfox will continue to exist and will be waiting for a buyer to appear, if this does not happen Sigfox will cease to exist.

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