Tarana, a broadband services provider advancing research from UC Berkeley, has raised $24m in funding with commitments for an additional $36m.
Tarana Wireless, a US-based broadband technology developer based on research at University of California (UC), Berkeley, has received $24m in funding from investors including satellite technology and services provider EchoStar as part of a round with a $60m targeted close.
Venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and family office 1010 Holdings also contributed to the tranche. The company said it has secured commitments for the remaining $36m to be supplied between by the end of October 2020.
Founded in 2009, Tarana has developed a fixed wireless access network that boasts gigabit speeds. Its radio signals are impervious to obstructions, interference, spectrum scarcity and changing weather conditions.
The network dynamically adjusts thousands of times per second to deliver consistent speeds at a range of up to 15 kilometres using unlicensed spectrum. It is expected to be particularly useful for suburban residential broadband.
Tarana advances research by a group of then-PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers at UC Berkeley.
The funding will support pre-commercialisatuion efforts as Tarana prepares for the mass rollout of its residential broadband service. It will also help expand a live demonstration network in Silicon Valley that already provides broadband to more than 100 sites.
Tarana closed an $88m funding round in March 2019 when EchoStar and Khosla Ventures added $60m to a first tranche provided by 1010 Holdings at an undisclosed date, increasing its overall funding to almost $200m.
The company’s investors also include telecommunications firms Deutsche Telekom and AT&T, private equity firm Blum Capital and several unnamed individuals. Securities filings indicate it raised $9.1m in funding in 2011 and $5m the following year.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
