FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Local Fayetteville tech startup, Mycelium Networks, announced Thursday the launch of the Mycelium Fund, a $1 million investment in innovation, aimed to attract developers and entrepreneurs to Northwest Arkansas.
The launch comes after Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s recent announcement of the creation of the Arkansas Council on Future Mobility and plans to make the state a global leader in transportation and tech.
According to a press release, the $1 million is available in the form of free data to any local developers looking to build innovative “Internet of Things” technology on the Helium network, and through the fund, Mycelium Networks said it hopes to spur innovation that can attract new businesses and development to the NWA region.
Over the past 18 months, the tech startup has been actively building a regional testbed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices across Northwest Arkansas. With the testbed on track to be completed by the end of the year, Mycelium Networks is now making free data available to local developers and entrepreneurs to assist them in building and utilizing technology on the infrastructure Mycelium has deployed, the release noted.
Its commitment intends to remove the barrier of cost-prohibitive data by encouraging developers to build IoT solutions for Arkansas’ biggest industries on the low-cost Helium network with the free data provided by the fund.
