Singapore startup UnaBiz emerges as white knight to troubled French tech giant
Rapid expansion hobbled Sigfox, but entrepreneur Henri Bong sees a turnaround.
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Sharanya Pillai
SIGFOX was once the poster child of France’s startup scene. It raised over US$300 million from the likes of Salesforce and Total, and earned praise from government officials.
But a botched expansion strategy led to the downfall of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) giant. It ran out of cash and filed for French bankruptcy protection early this year, searching for a buyer.
A low-profile Singapore startup, UnaBiz, on Apr 21 emerged as the winning bidder for Sigfox, among 8 other contenders. UnaBiz is buying Sigfox and its French subsidiary for 25 million euros (S$36.4 million), The Business Times (BT) understands. This is funded by UnaBiz’s cash reserves.
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