KPN takes stake in Internet of Things specialist

Dutch telco KPN’s investment arm is taking a stake in France-based Internet of Things specialist Actility.

KPN Ventures will participate in a capital raising exercise by Actility which also counts Orange, Swisscom and Foxconn’s European venture capital partner Ginko Ventures among its latest backers. Actility plans to raise around US$25 million (€22 million).

Actility and KPN are members of the LoRa Alliance, a group of companies looking to establish a global standard for long-range low-power (LoRa) connectivity to enable Internet of Things applications. KPN plans to launch LoRa in the Netherlands before the end of this year.