Meet the Team
Helium was founded in 2013 by Shawn Fanning, Amir Haleem, and Sean Carey, with a mission to make it easier to build connected devices.
Meet the Helium TeamIn order to build the world's first peer-to-peer wireless network, Helium has gathered a team with a diverse, yet complementary, skillset within radio and hardware, manufacturing, distributed systems, peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies.
Amir Haleem
CEO & Co-Founder
Amir is the CEO & co-founder of Helium. Prior to Helium, Amir served a long career in the videogame industry as CTO at gaming startup Diversion, and member of the original team behind Battlefield 1942 at DICE in Stockholm, Sweden. Outside of work, Amir is a former world champion esports gamer, co-founder of the popular esports community esreality.com, and builds and races 90's Japanese sports cars.
Marc Nijdam
CTO
Marc Nijdam is proven technology leader with over 25 years of experience. His background ranges commercializing research at Hewlett-Packard, to leading the technology and teams behind a number of Qualcomm products and services. Marc focuses on the design, scalability, and resilience of product, software, and development teams. Beyond being a typical Dutch guy, he likes to sail fast boats and hang out with his wife and dog in wide open spaces.
Frank Mong
COO
Frank Mong is COO at Helium, where he is responsible for sales, marketing and business development for the company. Before Helium, Mong spent 20 years in cyber security including CMO at Hortonworks, SVP of Marketing at Palo Alto Networks, and VP/GM of security at HP.
Board & Advisors
Bruce Armstrong
Partner, Khosla Ventures
Eric Dresselhuys
Former EVP Sales & Co-Founder of Silver Spring Networks
Shawn Fanning
Founder, Helium, Rupture, Path, Snocap, Napster
Greg Gotts
Founder of Invisileash
John Hamm
Founding Partner, Soda Rock Partners
Vinod Khosla
Founder, Khosla Ventures
Jacqueline LeSage Krause
Munich Re / HSB Ventures
Aaron Levie
Founder & CEO, Box
Alex Roetter
Former SVP Engineering, Twitter
Matt Turck
Partner, FirstMark Capital
Robert Wenig
Founder TeaLeaf, Former CTO SAP
Andy Wheeler
Partner, GV
Salle Yoo
Former Uber Chief Legal Officer
Our Investors
Helium has raised equity funding from some of the most prominent Venture Capital (VC) firms in the world including Khosla Ventures, FirstMark Capital, GV (formerly Google Ventures), HSB/MunichRe Ventures and others.








Helium in the News
LoRaWAN Partners Unite to Solve Parking Problems in The City of Huntington
March 25th, 2021 | IoT Busines News
Literally, a Better Mousetrap from Helium & Victor® Powered by The People’s Network
March 15th, 2021 | Helium & Victor®
Airly Selects The People’s Network to Track Air Quality Around the Globe
December 17th, 2020 | Airly
IoT Startup Helium Floats New Hardware Device for Mining Its HNT Crypto Tokens
September 22nd, 2020 | CoinDesk
Semtech and Helium Expand LoRaWAN® Network Deployments
August 25th, 2020 | Semtech
16 Industry Pros Choose The Coolest Cutting-Edge Tech
July 15th, 2020 | Forbes
Building the World's First Peer-to-Peer Wireless Network
June 22nd, 2020 | TechRadar
Google-backed Crypto Startup Expands Its IoT Network into Europe
June 18th, 2020 | Decrypt
Helium Introduces Tag Tracker for Its Blockchain-Based Network
June 18th, 2020 | PCMag
Napster Co-founder's Internet of Things Startup Expands to Europe
June 18th, 2020 | Financial Times
The Top 20 IoT Startups to Watch in 2020
May 25th, 2020 | Forbes
A Deep Dive on Helium's Hotspot and Business Plans
May 18th, 2020 | Stacey on IoT
The 10 most innovative consumer electronics companies in 2020
March 10th, 2020 | Fast Company
New Internet of Things, peer-to-peer wireless network gets a big lift
March 6th, 2020 | Decrypt
Semtech is making LoRa into a connectivity contender
March 6th, 2020 | Stacey on IoT
Semtech and Helium Announce New Nationwide LoRaWAN Network
March 5th, 2020 | Semtech
Helium Hotspots Build Energy-Efficient Networks for IoT Devices While Generating Cryptocurrency Rewards for Users
February 25th, 2020 | CardRates
Helium Brings Connectivity Innovation to IoT
February 21st, 2020 | DZone
Helium Flies High With More Than 3,000 Hotspots Installed in US DIY IoT Network
February 5th, 2020 | Light Reading
Is LongFi the Next Wireless Revolution?
January 16th, 2020 | Lifewire
The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for IoT Enthusiasts
December 20th, 2019 | IoT For All
Helium Hotspot: Special Mention on The 100 Best Inventions of 2019
November 21st, 2019 | TIME
This startup wants to pay you — in cryptocurrency — to help build its network
November 15th, 2019 | Fast Company
Helium Already Has Over 1,000 Hotspots in Its User-Made US IoT Network
November 11th, 2019 | Light Reading
Helium activates wireless network for IoT devices in more than 425 US cities
November 7th, 2019 | TechRepublic
Crypto-Powered IoT Networks Are On Their Way to Over 250 US Cities
September 24th, 2019 | Coindesk
Atlanta Inno’s 25 under 25: Adi Arul
September 18th, 2019 | Atlanta Inno
Decrypt: Helium’s trial balloon: A new peer-to-peer wireless network goes live in Austin
August 1, 2019 | Decrypt
CRN: The 10 Top IoT Startups Of 2019 (So Far)
July 2, 2019 | CRN
SF Chronicle: What are Helium founders breathing? A cheaper, longer-range wireless network
June 16, 2019 | SF Chronicle
Fortune: Cryptocurrency, IoT, Scooters? A Zany Plan to Take on Telecom—Data Sheet
June 14, 2019 | Fortune
Light Reading: Helium Starts Selling IoT Hotspots in US
June 13, 2019 | Light Reading
Coingeek: Helium raises $15 million to integrate blockchain and crypto
June 13, 2019 | Coingeek
CryptoNewsZ: Helium To Launch Blockchain Based Wireless Connections In Cheaper Rate
June 13, 2019 | CryptoNewsZ
CrowdFund Insider: P2P Networking Platform For IoT Devices Helium Secures $15 Million Through Series C Funding Round Led By Union Square Ventures & Multicoin Capital
June 13, 2019 | CrowdFund Insider
Multicoin Capital: Announcing our investment in Helium
June 12, 2019 | Multicoin Capital
Union Square Ventures: Helium
June 12, 2019 | USV
Fred Wilson: Helium
June 12, 2019 | AVC
Forbes: Blockchain Startup Makes Wireless Internet Cheaper, Lands Lime Scooters And Nestle As Clients
June 12, 2019 | Forbes
TechCrunch: Helium launches $51M-funded “LongFi” IoT alternative to cellular
June 12, 2019 | TechCrunch
VentureBeat: Helium raises $15 million to float fee-free, peer-to-peer networking
June 12, 2019 | VentureBeat
CoinDesk: Napster Founder’s IoT Startup Is Adding Tokens With $15 Million Round Led by USV, Multicoin
June 12, 2019 | CoinDesk
Coin Telegraph: Napster Creator’s Blockchain Firm Helium Releases IoT Hotspots
June 12, 2019 | Coin Telegraph
Web wire: Helium Is Creating a Peer-to-Peer Wireless Network Because Smart Dog Collars and Wildfire Sensors Shouldn’t Require Cellular Plans
June 12, 2019 | Web wire
PE Hub: Helium takes in $15 mln Series C
June 12, 2019 | PE Hub
‘Most Ambitious’ Blockchain Startup Since Ethereum Raises $15 Million
June 12, 2019 | CCN
CRN: 10 Hot IoT Companies To Watch In 2019
January 2nd, 2019 | CRN
The 10 Hottest Blockchain Startups of 2018
December 4th, 2018 | CRN
This company hopes its cryptocurrency can help the internet of things reach its true potential.
May 10th, 2018 | MIT Tech Review
Q&A | Helium CEO Amir Haleem on an open, affordable, blockchain-based IoT
July 2nd, 2018 | Internet of Business
Blockchain for IoT: A Big Idea Meets Hard Design Questions
July 8th, 2018 | Coindesk
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