Finnish-based IoT company Wirepas secured $27 million to fuel its efforts in developing ultra-reliable wireless mesh networking software.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) loaned the Tampere, Finland firm the cash to scale its research and development efforts in its homeland and France to support growth in Europe.

Founded in 2010, Wirepas started life as a research project at the University of Tampere to create a network capable of supporting hundreds of thousands of connected devices.

Its flagship mesh offering connects devices – up to four billion per a company blog post – onto a single network. The decentralized design means there’s no single failure point, so if one device goes down, the platform automatically reroutes data via other devices.

The firm’s radio frequency (RF) mesh technology supports multiple bands to accommodate different ranges and densities, with the firm touting the tech as ultra-reliable for a variety of industrial needs. Its use of NR+ (DECT-2020 NR), which is an open 5G standard for connecting large numbers of devices, adds to that positioning, with Wirepas contending it as suitable for supporting critical infrastructure areas like energy grids, factories, and smart cities.

“Europe needs to scale technologies that can connect millions of devices reliably and at low cost,” Yu Zhang, head of the EIB’s division for deep tech, digital, and life sciences, noted. “Companies like Wirepas will help build the next generation of digital systems for industry, energy, and cities. This is fully in line with Europe’s goals to strengthen digital sovereignty and accelerate the deployment of secure, energy-efficient technologies.”

According to Wirepas, its offering is already running across more than 20 million devices worldwide, with companies making use of it including French smart city solutions firm BH Technologies, Turkish bus and military vehicle manufacturer Otokar, and smart building IoT provider Inferrix.

“With the support of the EIB, we can accelerate the development and deployment of Wirepas technology across Europe and beyond, enabling industries and cities to connect millions of devices securely and efficiently,” Wirepas CEO Teppo Hemiä added. “This financing strengthens our ability to innovate in Europe while supporting Europe’s ambitions for digital sovereignty and sustainable industrial transformation.”