Mycelium Networks builds blockchain tech hub

Rishi Mittal, founder and CEO of Fayetteville-based Mycelium Networks, said he moved to Northwest Arkansas about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic to start a business in an area “very conducive to startups and new ideas.”

Mycelium Networks is a blockchain technology startup that has deployed hardware to enhance mobile phone networks via cell signal arrays and to collect weather data from stations set up throughout Northwest Arkansas. Mycelium Networks has five staff.

“We build networks that are connected, and blockchain technology is what allows that to be possible,” Mittal said. “We believe that a new internet is being built right now. And it’s going to connect more things to it, not just cellphones and not just humans.”

Since its launch in 2020, the company has collected over $3 million in revenue. This doesn’t include capital gains and funding rounds, one of which is currently underway. By the end of the year, Mittal hopes to raise $5 million, half of which will go to hardware.

Mycelium Networks has deployed hardware at hundreds of locations throughout Northwest Arkansas, including cell signal arrays and weather stations. The company earns money from its internet-connected equipment via blockchains, which its technology supports. Some of its earnings are given to its partners, where the equipment is installed.

“We are 100% currently focused in Northwest Arkansas,” he said. “This is a wave of new technology that’s going to be developed and coming out over the next two decades. We’ve set up a company to continue to be able to deliver those new technologies to Northwest Arkansas.”

The company plans to remain here as a testing hub for new technology as it’s released. Mycelium Networks recently completed the Bounds Accelerator program, which was hosted by Bentonville-based Cartwheel Startup Studio and the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.