Venture with Grace Amir Haleem, Nova Labs CEO on Helium Network & Decentralized Wireless
Jan 18, 2026
Amir Haleem, the innovative Founder and CEO of Nova Labs, discusses his journey creating the world's largest decentralized wireless network. He dives into how community-driven infrastructure can outpace traditional carriers and explains the unique economics of Helium Mobile compared to conventional carriers. Amir shares insights on using crypto incentives to grow IoT connectivity, and details the importance of partnerships with major telecoms. He also touches on future trends in AIoT and the evolving landscape of decentralized wireless solutions.
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Gaming Roots Led To Helium's Start
- Amir Haleem met cofounder Sean Fanning playing video games and started Helium in 2013 to solve IoT connectivity problems.
- Early customer examples included baby monitors and people-counting sensors that needed cheap, long-range, battery-efficient networks.
Community Hotspots Fill Indoor Coverage Gaps
- Helium pivoted from IoT to also provide mobile coverage by combining community hotspots with carrier partnerships.
- The network targets indoor coverage gaps where traditional towers underperform, improving venue customer experience.
Passpoint Enables Seamless Offload
- Passpoint technology lets subscribers auto-join venue Wi‑Fi hotspots without manual credentials and stay seamless.
- Helium rewards hotspot operators with tokens while carriers pay for that coverage behind the scenes.
