‘Investing without fear’

América Economía, a leading panregional Latin American business-news outlet, featured Fuel Venture Capital portfolio company Ubicquia in December. Below, find the English translation of the article. The original piece, written in Spanish, can be found on América Economía.

An issue that slows the growth of startups with public sector solutions is the lack of investment, as it is perceived to be very high risk. However, there are examples of successful startups in the public field.

This is the case of Ubicquia, a Florida-based company that offers municipalities technological solutions for smart cities, small cells and smart grids, and which recently completed its $30 million Series C funding round with participation of Fuel Venture Capital.

“Our main mission is to make cities smarter, safer and more connected and there are three components needed to achieve this: the city or the municipality, the public service company and a mobile network carrier. We make products for all three, we don’t focus strictly on the public sector ”, says Ian Aaron, CEO of Ubicquia, which is one of the reasons why investors have ventured into the company.

In Latin America, Ubicquia’s clients consist of the municipalities of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica and also evaluates the market of Brazil, Peru and Argentina. Its smart city platforms plug into existing streetlights to provide critical services, including advanced light control and video AI to optimize traffic management and enhance public safety. Their platforms also provide public WiFi, private LTE, and small cell solutions that connect to a street lighting photocell socket.

“Nothing in Latin America happens quickly, but we are seeing early initiatives to develop this mainly due to its significant savings, especially in electricity. That is why the region was a logical market for us. In fact, we started our business with implementations and working with public services in Latin America,” he said.