Softbank Vision Fund-2 backed Kigen appoints COO and bolsters India leadership

Belfast [Ireland], June 14 (ANI/PRNewswire):Kigen the global pioneer of eSIM & iSIM technology for Internet of Things manufacturers, announced today the appointment of Stephen Halpenny as the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO). As COO, Stephen will work with Vincent Korstanje, CEO and the company's newly-appointed board of directors, to continue to support the company's strategic directions for ambitious growth in the next phase.
"eSIM demand is at an all-time high in any industry undergoing rapid transformation - from smart metering to telematics and mobility, and Kigen is well-positioned to support customers tackling with this change," said Stephen Halpenny, COO, Kigen.
"The combined expertise that Kigen brings in telecoms and chip to cloud security is a key differentiator, and a key part of our strategy is hiring world-class talent to help us achieve our goals".
Previously, Halpenny was Kigen's Chief Revenue Officer, being responsible for all sales, business development and commercial operations. As a co-founder of Simulity Labs, which was acquired by Arm in 2017 and incubated for pioneering at the leading edge of SIM Technology, Halpenny has played an integral role in the company's strategy and business development. Halpenny brings more than 20 years of industry and entrepreneurial experience across global businesses. Halpenny will establish a collaborative centre of excellence on operations and customer success at the company's headquarters in Belfast and in the company's offices in Noida, India.
Founded as an independent company in 2020, Kigen has quadrupled revenue growth in that period, as digital transformation and security take centre stage in how businesses accelerate growth out of the pandemic. The company has seen 350 per cent growth in the adoption of its eSIM OS which is highly optimized for the specific needs of energy-efficient and battery-reliant connected devices. The business has anchored deals with eight out of the ten largest cellular module makers for its iSIM (Integrated SIM), which offers 98 per cent reduction in silicon size by merging both chip and SIM into a single component. Counterpoint Research's eSIM Competitive, Ranking & Evaluation Report for 2021 has ranked Kigen in fourth place in its global ranking of eSIM enablement leaders.
This growth has garnered investment from Softbank Vision Fund 2 and the company has appointed Jimi Macdonald, Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers as Chair of Kigen's Board of Directors. With this investment, Kigen is setting its sights on growth banking on the industry-leading expertise of its global teams attracting the best of the industry. A key part of this growth is Kigen's Technical Excellence Centre in Noida, India. The company also announced the appointment of Papiya Raipal as Kigen's Country Director for India starting in June. Papiya brings 20 years of experience within the security sector, most recently at Idemia where she grew technical teams across Noida and Jakarta.
"Establishing Kigen as a new company in the midst of the pandemic has resulted in us thinking differently about how flexibility, inclusivity and high trust are reflected in everything we do," said Vincent Korstanje, CEO, Kigen. "We grow as individuals and as a company together and Kigen is poised for continued success with our extended leadership team."
For information on Kigen and to learn more about the leadership team, please visit https://kigen.com/company/careers/open-positions/
Supporting quote from Counterpoint Research
"Kigen is one of the fastest growing companies in the eSIM enablement landscape and has moved to fourth position globally in Counterpoint's latest eSIM ecosystem evaluation. Kigen leads across eSIM firmware, security, and industry standards compliance leveraging strong partnerships across the value chain as also demonstrated with industry's first EAL5+ certified iSIM hardware building on the first iSIM product launched back in 2019." - Neil Shah, Research Vice President at Counterpoint Research
At Kigen, we are making the future of securing connectivity simple. As simple as can be. Together with our partners and customers, we are at the forefront of unlocking a new era of secure IoT as Integrated SIM (iSIM) and eSIM become the mainstream choice for connected devices. Our industry-leading SIM OS products enable over 2 billion SIMs. Our GSMA-certified remote SIM provisioning and eSIM services drive this momentum further placing us among the top 5 SIM vendors globally. As an Arm-founded company, we bring an ecosystem approach to driving innovation and collaboration. For more information, go to kigen.com or speak to us on @Kigen_Ltd on Twitter and LinkedIn about #futureofSIM.
Resources
Bio: Stephen Halpenny
Stephen Halpenny is Chief Operating Officer at Kigen. Stephen oversees operations as Kigen seeks to continue its expansion both in supporting an expanding customer base and servicing more verticals. Stephen has played an integral part in Kigen's growth with being co-founder of Simulity Labs, which on acquisition in 2017 by Arm became Kigen. Stephen has served previously as Chief Revenue Officer at Kigen, leading commercial operations and brings over 20 years of experience across the telecoms and security space. In between spending time with customers and Kigen's customer success centres in Belfast, Stephen works flexibly from Dublin.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenhalpenny/
Learn more about Stephen
Stephen Halpenny shares his leadership style and advice for how to build successful careers in IoT startups: https://kigen.com/resources/blog/kigen-new-coo-stephen-halpenny
FAQ:
What opportunities do these appointments create for jobs in Northern Ireland and India?
Kigen is hiring to grow engineering excellence and customer-focused support functions in Northern Ireland and India. More information on open roles can be found at https://kigen.com/company/careers/open-positions/
What is the company's process for recruitment?
At Kigen, we keep things simple. All open positions can be applied for via Kigen's LinkedIn or applications can be sent via email as detailed on https://kigen.com/company/careers/
What is Kigen's approach to returning employees back to the workplace?
Kigen's leadership have been advocates of flexible working and better life-work balance long before world events necessitated these approaches. We are adopting an employee-centric approach, affording our teams the options of working remotely where possible, periodically taking advantage of face-to-face collaborative time and designing ways of working best for their well-being. We have company-wide 'Days of care' to invest in personal and family well-being and the possibility of working from abroad for up to four weeks.
How does Kigen plan to communicate and continue investing in its customers?
The strong growth of eSIM and iSIM means that Kigen has a busy line-up addressing customer needs through virtual and physical forums. On June 29th, Beecham Research will host a webinar featuring Kigen and partners SONY and Sierra Wireless on "IoT at the Edge: Enabling the Real-Time Enterprise" - sign up now. Kigen is supporting North America's largest and most influential connectivity event, MWC Las Vegas 2022, as Theme Sponsor for the Internet of Everything (IoE) and will be meeting with customers to reconnect and accelerate secure connectivity.
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