Huawei buys Cambridge-based Internet of Things start-up Neul

Huawei to base IoT investments around British acquisition

Internet of Things (IoT) start-up Neul has been snapped by telecoms hardware giant Huawei in a $25m deal.

Neul, which boasts investments from DFJ Esprit and IQ Capital, among others, focuses on narrowband communications for devices. Its technology is designed to work over 3G but at frequencies from 900MHz down to 200kHz.

The company has worked with Huawei for some time, with Huawei building narrowband cellular capabilities into its infrastructure while Neul provided the semiconductor technology to go into the user equipment.

While the data rate is low - between just 100 bits per second to 10 kilobits per second - it is intended for low-data readings, such as temperature readings from sensors on an ad hoc basis.

According to reports, Huawei is planning to wrap up its other IoT initiatives within Neul as part of its broader range of research and development investments in the UK

Neul CEO Stan Boland was formerly CEO of Acorn in the late 1990s, before heading up Acorn spin-off Element 14. He worked for Broadcom when that it acquired Element 14, before co-founding Icera in 2002. Icera, a fabless semiconductor company based in Bristol, was acquired by Nvidia in May 2011 for $367m in cash - enriching its venture capital investors Accel Partners, Amadeus, Atlas, Balderton Capital and DFJ Esprit.