Celeno, a leading provider of smart, managed Wi-Fi solutions, will unveil its new Wi-Fi 6 chipset family set to disrupt Wi-Fi access point design and cost / performance ratio early 2019
The investment will support Celeno’s expansion in Europe and around the world, especially with new IoT verticals as well as service providers, leveraging Iris Capital’s connections and expertise
Paris – Iris Capital, a leading European venture capital firm, announce today that it has led a strategic investment of US$10 million in Celeno, a global leader and innovator in Wi-Fi solutions. This investment, joined by Celeno’s existing shareholders, will support Celeno’s expansion in Europe and its product development.
As Wi-Fi has become an indispensable part of our lives, with over 10 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices in use worldwide, it is now a strategic imperative for service providers as the ubiquitous touchpoint for broadband services such as data, video and various IoT applications in the home. The growing reliance on Wi-Fi as infrastructure and subscribers viewing Wi-Fi more as a utility than an add-on are causing the demand for Gigabit Wi-Fi to skyrocket, challenging standard equipment that was not designed for this. Celeno is pushing the envelope of Wi-Fi with its groundbreaking silicon and software technology, taking Wi-Fi beyond connectivity and allowing unprecedented capabilities and savings.
Celeno’s Wi-Fi chipsets are used globally by OEM customers such as ARRIS, Compal and Samsung in home gateways, routers, set-top boxes, Wi-Fi access points and extenders. Celeno’s technology is already deployed in tens of millions of homes worldwide with Tier-1 service providers such as Charter Communications (ex-Time warner Cable) in North America and Vodafone and Liberty Global across 15 countries in Europe and Latin America. The smart Wi-Fi technologies provided by Celeno for these customers include advanced QoS (Quality of Service) management technologies, multi-AP mesh management and smart antenna technology to intelligently manage the connection to each of the many connected devices in the home and enable consumers to achieve true Gigabit speeds in their home.
Early 2019, Celeno will unveil its next generation Wi-Fi 6 chipset which will include many industry-first innovations including Elastic MIMO™, a world-first capability set to revolutionize access-point equipment design by substantially cutting costs and size while doubling the performance.
“We believe that our disruptive, next generation Wi-Fi technology will deliver substantial value to our market as well as new core IoT markets such as smart homes, smart cities, automotive and eHealth. With our high standards of innovation and global roadmap, we were looking for ambitious investors to support our European expansion. Iris Capital is a leading European VC that will help expand our market leadership by leveraging their connections, expertise, and influence,” says Gilad Rozen, Founder and CEO of Celeno.
“To support Gigabit speeds over Wi-Fi, especially in a congested and noisy spectrum, breakthrough innovations are required. Celeno’s team has built a reputation as one of the best Wi-Fi teams in the world and has already developed disruptive Wi-Fi technology that pushes the technological envelope. Their upcoming products will take Wi-Fi to completely different domains and their strategic industry position made the choice to invest in Celeno obvious for Iris Capital, especially given our relationships with telecom and services providers across Europe. We are proud to fuel this world-class team which is truly advancing the industry”, adds Yaron Rosenbaum, Partner at Iris Capital.
The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.