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Dallas Business Journal – by Jeff Bounds Senior staff writer Mavenir Systems Inc., a maker of telecom equipment, has landed $13.5 million in a fourth round of funding, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Previous investors in Richardson-based Mavenir that participated in the round include Alloy Ventures, Austin Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners. A fourth existing, unnamed institutional investor joined in, too, according to Shubh Agarwal, Mavenir’s vice president of marketing.
The latest round of funding also included a new, fifth backer of the business, Agarwal said. He declined to name the fourth and fifth investors, saying he was awaiting approvals before issuing a press release next week.
The company, which is profitable, landed the money to grow its operations and its sales organization and to reach the point where it is self-sustaining, Agarwal said.
“We are strategically moving from a start-up … to the scaling-up phase, where we’re growing our customer base,” he said. “Our strategy of innovation has worked.”
Mavenir has raised a total of $51 million since October 2005, according to the company’s website. The last round of funding that Mavenir had disclosed, worth $17.5 million, arrived in December 2008, according to a separate SEC filing.
Mavenir sells a line of equipment that it maintains allows any type of entertainment or communication service to be delivered over any type of network, regardless of what device consumers use to receive that service.
That allows, say, for consumers to have one phone number, rather than work, home and cell numbers. Mavenir technology also allows a consumer to switch a call from a landline phone to a cell, walk down the hall to get a cup of coffee, and switch the call back to the landline.
Consumers never see Mavenir’s gear, which is sold to wireless carriers to enhance their services.
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