The company acquired the domain after an earlier round of funding.
What do you get when you cross blockchain, cryptocurrency, and a team of highly skilled developers? In Helium’s case, you get a $1.2 billion valuation.
Founded in 2013 by co-founders including Shawn Fanning of Napster fame, Helium began as an Internet of Things company with the aim of connecting low-powered devices without WiFi or Bluetooth.
The company successfully leveraged the growing popularity of Internet of Things devices to offer products and services of growing complexity. One of Helium’s earliest innovations was a smart sensor for refrigerators, but the company has grown in ambition since then.
Using blockchain technology, Helium launched a product called Hotspot in 2019.
Coinciding with its $15 million funding round, the launch of Hotspot was a significant moment for Helium, which still had aspirations of connecting millions of low-powered devices.
According to Helium CEO Amir Haleem, Helium’s Hotspot network extends 200 times farther than a standard WiFi connection, with just 50 to 100 Hotspots required to cover an entire city.
The Hotspot allows greater connectivity of “things” to the Internet. An early adopter of Helium’s Hotspot was Lime, the scooter startup, which planned to use Helium’s network to track the location of its scooters.
Alongside the Hotspot, Helium launched a new cryptocurrency, also named Helium. Hotspot owners can receive the Helium tokens every time something connects via their Hotspot. The more a Hotspot is used, the more tokens the owner earns.
As of publishing, the Helium cryptocurrency has a market cap of over $2.5 billion, and there are close to 600,000 Helium Hotspots in existence. This popularity helped Helium close its latest $200 million funding round at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
At the center of Helium’s billion-dollar platform is a truly eye-catching domain name, Helium.com.
Helium originally acquired the domain in late 2014, just over a year after the company launched. The purchase coincided with Helium’s $16 million Series A funding round, announced in December 2014.
Helium.com was previously owned by the multichannel marketing company RR Donnelly & Sons, which also owns RRD.com. The company took ownership of Helium.com after acquiring publishing platform Helium, Inc. in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.
Helium’s acquisition of Helium.com was a significant upgrade from its previous Helium.co domain and gave the company a perfect platform to grow on. Now, Helium.com is the primary destination for new and existing customers to interact with this billion-dollar brand.
