Salica Investments has backed Kigen with a £10 million growth debt investment, giving the Cambridge-based eSIM security specialist additional capital to expand across the UK, Europe, and the United States. The announcement places Kigen in a timely market conversation as manufacturers, enterprises, and critical-sector operators face tougher expectations around secure connected products and long-term device maintainability. It also marks Salica’s first investment in a company from Cambridge’s Silicon Fen technology cluster, adding a regional dimension to a deal focused on global connectivity, cyber resilience, and industrial-scale IoT security.
Funding to Support International Expansion
Kigen develops eSIM and Remote SIM Provisioning technologies that help organisations securely connect, manage, and update devices across consumer, machine-to-machine, and IoT environments. The company says its solutions provide access to more than 200 terrestrial and satellite networks, while supporting manufacturers that need secure connectivity architecture and verifiable lifecycle controls. Salica’s investment is intended to help Kigen scale its commercial reach and product delivery at a time when connected devices are becoming more deeply embedded in enterprise operations, infrastructure, and industrial systems.
Regulatory Pressure Raises the Stakes
The funding arrives as cybersecurity regulation increasingly influences how connected products are designed, deployed, and maintained. In Europe, the Cyber Resilience Act is pushing manufacturers toward secure-by-design development, vulnerability management, coordinated reporting, and continuing support across the life of products with digital components. In the United States, NIST-related expectations are also sharpening attention on governance, operational resilience, incident reporting, and supply-chain risk management across critical sectors.
Why eSIM Security Is Gaining Attention
Kigen’s pitch is that eSIM can serve as more than a connectivity layer, becoming a security anchor for connected products that must remain trustworthy after deployment. Its latest offerings are positioned around secure patching, auditability, updates at scale, and predictable long-term support, which are increasingly important for device fleets expected to operate for years. The company is also expanding delivery through a software-as-a-service model, giving customers usage-based access to operating-system licensing, management tools, and professional services instead of relying only on fixed licensing models.
Company Background and Market Position
Originally spun out of Arm, Kigen has operated independently since 2020 and maintains offices in Cambridge, Belfast, and Noida. The company is backed by Arm, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and SBI Group, and has built relationships across sectors including consumer electronics, energy, automotive, logistics, and industrial automation. Its recent recognition in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2026 and inclusion as an eSIM vendor in Gartner’s 2025 IoT Hype Cycle underline its growing visibility in the secure connectivity market.
For Salica, the deal reflects confidence in a company operating at the intersection of connectivity, cybersecurity, and regulation-led enterprise demand. For Kigen, the financing provides non-dilutive growth capital to accelerate expansion while helping customers simplify regulatory readiness and secure device fleets over longer operating lives. As connected products become more intelligent, autonomous, and exposed to cyber risk, the investment highlights the rising commercial importance of secure eSIM infrastructure in the next phase of IoT adoption.