RE: Ethernity Networks is reborn7 Jan 2024 13:01
What was the last Tarana deal worth to enet?
Below is article on Tarana just raised $50million to expand.
Tarana Wireless, based in Milpitas, CA, has received $50 million in a funding round led by Digital Alpha Advisors, an investment firm focused on digital infrastructure.
The new funds are intended to help accelerate Tarana’s “growth in sales and deployment: of its Gigabit 1 (G1) next generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) platform. G1 can deliver download speeds of several hundred megabits per second in both line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight conditions, typically in underserved or unserved markets where fiber does not reach. The funding will support greater R&D investment to build on the company’s advances in wireless broadband technology.
Tarana is aligned with Digital Alpha’s investment thesis that the industry will see a consolidation of wireless internet service providers that cannot compete with other broadband providers or are underfunded for growth. Rick Shrotri, Founder and Managing Partner at Digital Alpha, explained, “… ngFWA is fundamentally changing network performance and [WISP] operator economics. Tarana’s G1 platform supplies the key missing ingredient in enabling wireless ISPs to offer highly competitive broadband, take share, and grow value in their businesses – at a months, not-years, deployment pace competitive technologies just cannot match.”
In addition to traditional equity investments in WISPs, Digital Alpha is offering a novel revenue-share financing solution to Tarana’s existing customers looking to expand their G1 deployments. To date, Digital Alpha has funded established Tarana customers such as Element 8 and Wisper ISP. The firm plans to partner with Tarana to pursue new market opportunities and additional WISPs with the revenue-share financing model.
Tarana says G1 demand has increased since its launch in late 2021. G1 is now deployed by more than 270 service providers in 19 countries, and in 41 of the 50 states in the U.S. WISP customer installations are accelerating across a range of applications, including closing the digital divide, significantly upgrading subscriber speeds to increase competitiveness, and providing new choices where there are limited high-speed connectivity options. The company’s G1 revenues in 2022, G1’s first full year of sales, were nearly $100 million; new orders plus sales have continued to increase in 2023.
Tarana CEO Basil Alwan comments, “This investment along with those in our customers makes [Digital Alpha] a natural and great partner. Our rapid growth has created more opportunities along with higher working capital requirements; this financing will play an essential role in maintaining our trajectory, supporting our customers’ continued growth, and expanding our reach globally