EdgeQ Raises $75M In Series B Funding To Further 5G Wireless Tech
The 5G startup will put the new funds toward the development of its chip technology as enterprise interest in 5G and private wireless heats up.
EdgeQ CEO Vinay Ravuri
5G wireless infrastructure upstart EdgeQ revealed a $75 million Series B funding round Wednesday that the company will put toward the development of its next-generation chip technology as enterprise interest in 5G and private wireless gains momentum.
The applications for 5G are expanding and EdgeQ CEO Vinay Ravuri told CRN that he predicts a “huge” shift in connectivity technology.
“No one knew who was going to be a Google or a Facebook when the internet started. This is one of those things—it’s just sort of the foundation layer and that will give birth to a lot of new things,” Ravuri said.
The Santa, Clara, Calif.-based startup is led by former Broadcom, Intel and Qualcomm executives including Ravuri, who left Qualcomm as vice president of product management in 2018 to create EdgeQ.
[Related: EdgeQ Takes On Intel’s 5G Play With AI-Infused Modem Chip]
Three-year-old EdgeQ bills itself as a 5G systems-on-a-chip company and is bringing AI to the edge of the network with 5G. The company previously raised $51 million in a Series A funding round in 2020.
EdgeQ’s “Base Station-on-a-Chip” lets operators, cloud service providers and enterprises build, configure and deploy public and private networks that are simple, scalable and affordable, the company said. Its converged 4G+5G+AI platform is open and software-programmable, which lets operators and service providers deploy systems at scale and implement upgrades without ripping and replacing their current network configuration, according to EdgeQ.
The latest funding round is led by Phaistos Investment Fund and includes new investors from several continents, according to the company.
“It’s a tough time to raise money and there’s a lot of down and flat rounds. Ours is neither down nor flat, so we’re lucky. It’s also a validation of our 5G chipset business,” Ravuri said.
EdgeQ will use the new funding to accelerate its 5G + AI Base Station-on-a-Chip technology and its next chip. The company, which has close to 200 employees, will also put the funding toward new head count, Ravuri said.
“We’ll probably add another 50 to 100 people in the next 18 months. Unlike most companies, we are actively hiring both in the U.S. in Santa Clara and in Bangalore, India,” he added.
EdgeQ does not have a formal channel partner program for VARs and MSPs, but the company plans to start a distribution channel in the future.
Right now, the company’s ecosystem partners include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google and Arrow for technology components.
In addition to the funding news, EdgeQ announced a new board member, Lattice Semiconductor President and CEO Jim Anderson.