Ubiquisys, developer of 3G femtocells, today announced it has completed the second close of the funding round first announced in July, with a $5 million investment led by three Taiwanese companies: SerComm Corporation, UMC Capital Corporation and Pacific Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Advent Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Atlas Venture.
Building on the company’s deployment with SoftBank Mobile in Japan, the capital will be used to accelerate its momentum worldwide, particularly in the Americas, it says.
The investment is said to reflect the growing importance of the Ubiquisys “Femto-Engine” business model, which frees operators and device manufacturers to fast-track their own femtocell designs. Ubiquisys already has strategic relationships with a number of Asian device manufacturers, who have been instrumental in producing femtocells at the sub-$100 price point that enables operators to supply them for free.
Ubiquisys has been well-placed to answer the number one concern among operators; interference problems between femto and macrocells. The company’s adaptive Radio Resource Management (aRRM) is the only system proven to eliminate interference problems in shared spectrum deployments.
The announcement is also said to reflect a highly successful year for the company, which has seen it achieve mass deployments in Japan and France, as well as exploiting its extensive IPR to develop the full range of small cells: residential, enterprise, rural and metro.
“Asia plays a leading role in the femtocell industry today, both in terms of product diversity and business model innovation,” said Chris Gilbert, CEO Ubiquisys. “Our work with SoftBank and SerComm has broken new ground and we are delighted to be adding strategic investors who bring extra know-how to help Ubiquisys build on our strong international momentum.”