Telecommunications companies across the world are working towards bringing 5G or fifth generation cellular technology into reality. It is known that this emerging tech will change everything and make it possible to connect with millions of objects, stream high-resolution videos at blazing speed, run self-driving cars and what not.
Well, 5G is all set to transform almost all industries from transportation to gaming to healthcare. It is believed to be capable of knitting together a massive network of sensors and devices together. While 5G is just around the corner, many tech service providers have started making attempts to deploy the same to realise benefits such as better interconnectivity, better energy saving, reduced latency and cost and more.
Across Europe, there are several hardware startups and IoT companies that are on the verge of bringing new hardware equipment such as vehicles, drones, sensors and more that will make use of 5G. Here, we have handpicked 10 European startups working towards bringing the super-fast 5G network to users.
Aircision (Netherlands)
Founders: Luis Oliveira, Edzard Janssens, John Reid
Eindhoven-based Aircision was debuted in 2018 with the mission to take industrial development to the next level and improve infrastructure across the world. The deep-tech venture from the startup accelerator HighTechXL is all set to test its laser-based 5G communications technology. The company’s laser technology provides them with a unique advantage as compared to the existing standard in communications, metrology and other applications.
Blu Wireless Technology (UK)
Founders: Henry Nurser, Mark Barrett, Ray McConnell
Funding: €29.6 million
Blu Wireless Technology founded in 2009 is disrupting the market with its service, which is reliable and smart. This startup provides 5G solutions that benefit from copious unlicensed spectrum in the mmWave band. The company delivers its intelligence system IP to licensees and has expertise in IC design, signal processing, product hardware and network software.
Arralis (Ireland)
Founders: Barry Lunn, Mike Gleaves
Funding: €52.3 million
In 2013, Arralis was started to bring innovation in the telecommunications space. The company has developed a world-leading radio frequency, micro and mmwave technology. Its products are used in global and space environments that give utmost importance to precision and reliability. Arralis has partnered with leading tech service providers to build high performance and cutting-edge solutions. This UK startup provides services to the world’s largest aerospace and security companies.
Isotropic Systems (UK)
Founders: John Finney
Funding: €18.2 million
London-based Isotropic Systems Limited is involved in the development of the most efficient and low-profile antennas since 2013. The antennas developed by the company are multi-band and electronically steerable. There is a team of well experienced scientists and industry experts that have made it achieve a breakthrough in innovative antenna design.
ALCAN Systems (Germany)
Founders: Burak Olcen, Esat Sibay, Onur Karabey, Rolf Jakoby
Funding: €8.2 million
ALCAN is a smart antenna company, which focuses on developing a new class of affordable smart antenna system. Founded in 2016, the company represents a breakthrough in cellular and satellite communication. The smart antennas from this company are ultra-thin, flat and capable of adjusting the beam electronically sans any moving parts. And, these can be mounted on moving vehicles such as airplanes, trains, cars and ships to track satellites and connect to 5G network as well.
Cambridge Communication Systems
Founders: John Porter, Steve Greaves
Funding: €7 million
CCS (Cambridge Communication Systems) was established in 2010 as a specialist in self-organising wireless back-haul for WiFi, CCTV, small cell, enterprise and smart city applications. The company’s Metnet system delivers reliable performance that can dynamically adapt to the capacity demands and optimise spectrum usage. This way, it can deploy and easily scale at an affordable rate. Enabling ad hoc deployment, Metnet can rapidly improve the quality of service in coverage in capacity hotspots or coverage not-spots and lay the foundation to let network architectures adopt 5G.
Zhilabs (Spain)
Founders: Joan Raventos, Julio Arpirez, Sergi Zapater
Acquisition: Samsung
Barcelona-based Zhilabs founded in 2008 is an AI-based startup offering network analytics and customer experience management services. Last year, it was acquired by Samsung Electronics for an undisclosed amount. Samsung acquired Zhilabs in order to expand its 5G offerings in network analytics and automation. Basically, AI-based automation is all set to enable new services such as connected cars and industrial IoT and this will help Samsung in the 5G era.
Maven Wireless (Sweden)
Founders: Fredrik Ekström
Funding: €2.3 million
Maven Wireless founded in 2016 is a leading innovator in wireless coverage solutions. Especially, the company specialises in DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems). Its products enable user maximise both the bandwidth and capacity of the wireless infrastructure with exceptional data throughput and RF performance. Maven Wireless is aiming to support the 5G infrastructure and beyond.
Semiblocks (Netherlands)
Founders: Ronald Wilting
Funding: €3 million
Since 2017, SemiBlocks is involved in the development of highly accurate oscillator technology. The company’s CMOS solution eliminates the effects of hysteresis and lets self-sensing in order to compensate for frequency errors that occur due to temperature variations. The company’s solutions work with a low-cost crystal and do not request external components for the integration. It is considered a technology breakthrough in the sector of timing reference technology.
VSORA (France)
Founders: Pierre Emmanuel Bernard, Trung Dung Nguyen
Funding: €1.6 million
Semiconductor startup VSORA founded in 2015 is an IP provider for chipmakers. It designs the latest generations of digital communication systems including 5G. The company’s multi-core DSP architecture avoids the necessity or DSP co-processors to provide a high level of flexibility, which can be achieved only with software programming. The company operates with the mission to meet the technical challenges involved in the state-of-the-art DSP design process.
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