Helium Inc., the company behind the rapidly developing Helium blockchain, has changed its name to Nova Labs.
Nova Labs also confirmed earlier reports of a $200 million Series D fundraising round headed by Tiger Global and including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY), and others. The latest fundraising round increased the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.
The “People’s Network,” a decentralised telecommunications network powered by crypto incentives, is rapidly expanding. According to Nova Labs Chief Operating Officer Frank Mong, there are over 680,000 mining “hotspots” online, with around 75,000 new hotspots added monthly. Hotspot owners exchange increased bandwidth for HNT tokens, which are now worth $24.68 per token.
Mong claims that there are hotspots in over 50,000 cities worldwide, with an additional 5,000 cities added to the map each month.
Additionally, such rapid expansion hasn’t always been easy for the network. Supply chain concerns and substantial shipping delays have hampered the project’s progress and enraged would-be miners who face wait periods of up to a year for their equipment.
