Key Takeaways

  • Onomondo raised more than €100 million from Aspirity Partners and existing backer EIFO.
  • Aspirity Partners will acquire a majority stake, while the funding will support international growth, network equipment, and proprietary infrastructure.
  • The investment positions Onomondo to pursue rising cellular IoT demand across nearly 700 networks worldwide.

Onomondo has raised more than €100 million, equivalent to over $112 million at approximate exchange rates, in a deal that gives Aspirity Partners a majority stake in the cellular Internet of Things connectivity business. Existing investor EIFO also participated in the transaction.

The investment provides capital for Onomondo's next phase of growth. According to reporting from Tech.eu, the proceeds will support international expansion, purchases of additional network equipment, and further development of Onomondo's proprietary IoT infrastructure. Those are capital-intensive goals, particularly for a business seeking to provide consistent connectivity across different countries, mobile operators, and device types.

Onomondo offers native access to nearly 700 networks worldwide through its technology stack. That reach is central to Onomondo's pitch: enterprise customers can manage connected devices across borders without assembling separate commercial and technical relationships in every market. For manufacturers and logistics operators, fewer connectivity handoffs reduce deployment complexity.

While cellular IoT is theoretically global, deployments remain geographically concentrated. IoT Analytics estimated that cellular IoT connections reached approximately 4.7 billion in 2025 and forecast 5.4 billion in 2026. North East Asia accounted for roughly 70% of those connections at the end of 2025. That leaves a substantial opening for providers capable of supporting deployments across Europe, the Americas, and other comparatively fragmented markets.

The wider IoT category is also growing beyond cellular connections alone. GSMA Intelligence forecasts 40.8 billion global IoT connections by 2030 and 52.9 billion by 2035. Not every sensor or machine will rely on a mobile network, of course. Wi-Fi, satellite, fixed networks, and short-range protocols will continue to play major roles. Still, the forecasts show why investors are backing platforms that can manage large, distributed device estates.

Enterprise customers require more than basic coverage from an IoT connectivity provider. Buyers increasingly need remote provisioning, usage visibility, security controls, predictable commercial terms, and tools that help diagnose failures without dispatching technicians. Operational costs escalate rapidly if a business must retrieve thousands of failed devices from the field.

Standards such as eSIM and eUICC can help by allowing operator profiles to be managed remotely. Meanwhile, 3GPP technologies including LTE-M, NB-IoT, and 5G RedCap address different combinations of bandwidth, power consumption, coverage, and device cost. Omdia projects cellular IoT connections will reach 5.9 billion by 2035, with growth driven by 5G RedCap, 5G Massive IoT, and LTE Cat-1bis.

That standards mix creates opportunity, but also complexity. A connected asset might remain deployed for a decade or longer, crossing operator footprints and surviving several network transitions. Onomondo addresses this by making underlying network variations manageable for customers focused on shipping, manufacturing, energy, or retail rather than telecommunications.

One useful proof point comes from maritime logistics. As reported by The Next Web, Onomondo built a private LTE network with Maersk spanning more than 450 ships. Maritime deployments expose the practical difficulties of industrial connectivity: assets move between jurisdictions, coverage conditions change, and maintenance windows can be limited. Operating successfully in this environment provides credibility for scaling other multinational deployments.

Competition will remain active. Soracom and 1NCE are among the vendors pursuing businesses that want international IoT connectivity without negotiating separately with numerous mobile operators. Differentiation among these providers hinges on network architecture, management software, pricing, support, and customer control over device traffic and data.

Aspirity Partners' majority investment gives Onomondo the financial capacity to scale its proprietary infrastructure. Deploying equipment, entering new markets, and maintaining native network integrations require disciplined execution, not just broad coverage claims. Converting its nearly 700-network footprint and proprietary infrastructure into simpler operations will dictate whether Onomondo can capture a larger share of the growing IoT market.