Moeco, an IoT platform and hardware developer, has raised $5 million in its first round of investment from a group of investors led by The Bitfury Group, a full-service blockchain technology company.

Based in Hong Kong, Moeco is working to build a global network of cells that enable users to integrate existing IoT networks, or deploy new ones, becoming their own in-house service provider. It uses blockchain environment to create a distributed and secure data storage.

“We are very excited to invest in Moeco, whose work and vision aligns with our own ambitious goals," said Valery Vavilov, CEO of the Bitfury Group. "Moeco is a service platform that enables customers to deploy citywide IoT networks using Blockchain technology, and the Bitfury Group provides a full range of Blockchain services and solutions that can help them do just that. Together, I believe Moeco and Bitfury will make great progress in bringing IoT devices to the Blockchain."

According to the official release, Moeco plans to use Bitfury's Exonum, a new protocol that helps businesses move, manage and secure data and assets.

Dmitry Gorilovskiy, Moeco's founder and CEO, said that Exonum is at the core of the Moeco platform. He said that the funding will be used to speed up the trials with core clients in retail and smart city areas and secure more resources for Exonum's development.

"Moeco's goal is to 'uberize' IoT connectivity by delivering data to the right place in a secure way and making sure the gateways are compensated fairly. The p2p nature of the underlying blockchain technology will help us scale the system quickly and efficiently," Gorilovskiy said.