Founder: Martin Varsavsky (CEO)
Date launched: 2006
Funding: $71.7 million
Industries disrupted: Mobile, Telecom, Tech Hardware
Disrupting: CISCO Systems, Comcast, Verizon
Competition: Comcast, Kumu Networks, Kymeta
Madrid-based Fon is a good example of what's come to be known as the sharing economy. The company sells a hotspot device called the Fonera for $49. It allows customers to share a bit of their private Wi-Fi connection with other Fon users. In turn, those customers get to use the shared bandwidth on other people's Fonera routers for free.
Founder and CEO Martin Varsavsky built the company on the belief that consumers will want to move about and still have access to secure, free hotspots.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2014 CNBC DISRUPTOR 50
The company recently signed a deal with Facebook so that users can share their Wi-Fi with Facebook friends.
So far, the company has 12 million hotspots around the world and has signed strategic partnerships with leading telecom companies in Europe, Brazil, South Africa and Japan, among others. Last September, Fon entered the U.S. market through a partnership with AT&T.
On the company's disruptive impact:
Since the beginning of FON, we have all believed in the idea of sharing, especially in the willingness of citizens to participate in building something important that would benefit everyone ... without limitations, anytime, anywhere.Martin Varsavskyfounder and CEO
