Tewksbury-based networking startup Altiostar Networks—whose CEO is Ashraf Dahod, formerly the founder of Starent Networks—has disclosed raising $50 million in new funding, two months after coming out of stealth mode with its technology focused on improving LTE networks.
The new funding was disclosed in a filing Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which indicates the first sale of equity in the new round was made on Jan. 7.
I've asked the company for more details on the new funding—including the names of investors and what the money will be used for—and I'll update the story if I hear anything.
The networking technology company has now raised $120 million in equity funding since 2012, according to SEC filings, making the firm one of the best-funded tech companies in Boston.
Investors in the company have included Cisco Systems, Excelestar Ventures and the company's founders.
Previously, Dahod founded Tewksbury-based Starent in 2000 and was its CEO through its IPO in 2007 and its acquisition by Cisco in 2009 for $2.9 billion.
The new funding disclosure came on the same day that another Boston-area tech firm, virtualization software firm VMTurbo, announced its own $50 million round, which valued the company at $500 million.
Here are the nitty-gritty details on what Altiostar is working on, via its November press release:
Altiostar unveiled its complete portfolio of carrier-grade, cloud-based, software-intensive radio access network (C-RAN) solution with Ethernet fronthaul that is designed to improve the quality of experience, enhance spectral efficiency, and significantly reduce Total Cost of Ownership of LTE access networks. This is a first-ever solution that does not require expensive and hard-to-deploy dark fiber or wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), and instead can be deployed using readily-available standard Ethernet links.
Today’s dynamic mobile environment is experiencing explosive growth in mobile data consumption driven by the unprecedented spread of smartphones and data-intensive applications with billions of subscribers worldwide. In addition, the Internet of Things and growth in machine-to-machine data traffic are challenging operators to rapidly expand their access networks in order to keep pace with demand.
