Phaistos Investment Fund invests in spacetech company OQ Technology
5G Ventures announces the investment of Phaistos Investment Fund in OQ Technology (Series A financing round), a Luxemburg-based innovative company that provides seamless Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity in underserved areas where terrestrial networks provide no coverage, by utilizing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
OQ Technology is the first 5G IoT operator, building a global hybrid system that combines both satellite and terrestrial wireless networks. Their hybrid system will provide seamless connectivity using 5G standards, terrestrial 5G hardware and chips for a variety of IoT applications for environmental monitoring and agriculture, logistics, maritime, smart metering, mining and oil & gas, aviation, and defence.
OQ Technology’s IoT (Narrowband IoT, NB-IoT) service is a new service that provides aggregate connections via satellite or cellular network for IoT users on land, at sea, and in the air. The service is based on the 5G 3GPP protocol, which means that it is compatible with all cellular protocols and equipment. Hence any, off-the-shelf IoT device (such as sensors, cameras, etc.) can connect to OQ Technology’s satellites for continuous coverage.
The company has successfully implemented and demonstrated NB-IoT connectivity over LEO satellites and is deploying a global constellation to provide 5G IoT telecommunication services for operators and customers in industries such as energy, mining, logistics, maritime, agriculture, and defence.
The round was co-led by Phaistos Investment Fund and Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm wholly owned by Saudi Aramco.
Moreover, on July 28th 2022, OQ Technology established a subsidiary in Greece, under the name “OQ Technology Hellas”, based in “Corallia”, an incubator/ accelerator unit of “Athena” Research Centre that hosts the si-Cluster (Space Technologies and Applications Cluster). 5G Ventures has signed MoUs with both “Athena” and “Corallia” and OQ Technology has already contacted companies from si-Cluster to explore synergies and opportunities in Greece.
The global 5G satellite IoT market was valued at $ 843.2 million in 2021 and is estimated to reach $ 6,142.4 million by 2031, at a CAGR of 22% during the period 2021-2031. (source: Transparency Market Research)
