Founded in 2013 by Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning, and Sean Carey, Helium's mission is to build a global, peer-to-peer wireless network, often called "The People's Network." It incentivizes individuals and businesses to deploy and operate wireless hotspots, which provide connectivity for IoT devices using the LoRaWAN protocol and, more recently, for mobile phones via 5G. In return for providing network coverage, hotspot owners earn cryptocurrency tokens (IOT and MOBILE). The network originally operated on its own blockchain but migrated to the Solana blockchain in 2023 for greater scalability and efficiency. The original company, Helium, Inc., rebranded to Nova Labs, which remains a primary contributor to the network's development, while the non-profit Helium Foundation now oversees the network's governance.

Founded in

United States