The Commercial Court of Toulouse announced the appointment of UnaBiz, massive IoT service provider and Sigfox Operator for Singapore and Taiwan, as the new owner of Sigfox. The results of the receivership proceeding for Sigfox and its subsidiary Sigfox France SAS were unanimous, with UnaBiz endorsed as the offer among nine initial bidders by the Jury, Administrators, the Public Prosecutor, Sigfox SA, Sigfox France SAS and Sigfox Employee Representatives.
Over the next few weeks, the Administrators, Sigfox Management and the Employee Representatives will work alongside UnaBiz to ensure a smooth transition of ownership to Sigfox’s existing commercial activities. (Also see reports: Sigfox CEO Jeremy Prince confirms nine groups are bidding for the ailing France-based 0G operator and Sigfox deadline looms: Buyers weigh purchase or its lights out for French 0G operator and
Sigfox goes into receivership after raising and spending €300mn, seeks buyer in 6-month court protection)
Business continuity is a top priority for the new management team. Upon handover, UnaBiz will safeguard 110 existing employees on a total of 174 and make financial and operational assessments to protect the firm’s assets, books, and most importantly, mission-critical network and backend systems, to address customers concerns.
“I want to thank the entire Sigfox community for supporting us, and the French government for authorising our investment. While the transition of ownership marks a new beginning for Sigfox, UnaBiz will definitely guarantee the French sovereignty of Sigfox,” says Henri Bong, co-founder and Co-CEO of UnaBiz.
As the provider of IoT communication services and the pioneer of the 0G network in 75 countries worldwide, Sigfox is in a position to champion massive IoT adoption. “On top of securing the sales pipeline for Sigfox in the next 12 months as global markets emerge from the pandemic, UnaBiz and Sigfox will strive towards the convergence of LPWAN. The new Sigfox will reinvent itself and collaborate with other IoT communication technologies to seize new market opportunities,” Henri adds.
To establish a more durable and collaborative global ecosystem, new strategies and governance will be put in place to facilitate engagements with Sigfox’ existing partners, customers, and Sigfox Operators to align stakeholders’ interests and support the company’s long-term development in its new chapter.
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