goTenna Closes $24M Financing Led by Founders Fund

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Jun 18, 2019, 10:00 ET

BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- goTenna, the world's leading mobile mesh networking platform, announced that it closed on $24M of new financing, in a combination of equity and debt to finance its continued growth and expansion of operations. Founders Fund led the Series C equity investment, with participation from Comcast Ventures and existing investors Union Square Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Walden VC, MentorTech, and Bloomberg Beta. Silicon Valley Bank provided the debt financing in the deal.

goTenna, like other Founders Fund portfolio companies such as Palantir, SpaceX, and Anduril, builds disruptive technologies for the public sector. goTenna's mesh tactical communications system, goTenna Pro, is currently used by wildland firefighters, emergency responders, military forces, law enforcement tactical units, and other government organizations around the globe, providing teams with resilient data communications and real-time position-location information even when centralized cellular networks, wifi, and satellite systems fail. The company, founded in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, also develops mass-market mesh networking systems for consumer use.

goTenna's financing secures an exciting development path for the company. This enables goTenna to accelerate its pursuit of a $26B/year public sector opportunity, as well as invest in research and development of future applications of their modular mobile mesh architecture for decentralized connectivity. The company's Aspen Grove™ mobile mesh protocol stack, paired with low-power, low-cost hardware and intuitive software interfaces, disrupts a limitless global market encompassing person-to-person, person-to-machine, and machine-to-machine networking.

"Gaps in centralized communications put lives and livelihoods at risk. As we prepare for a world with hundreds of billions of connected things, we should never again have to contend with an unconnected last mile," said Daniela Perdomo, goTenna's Founder and CEO. "Paired with phones or integrated into any device or machine, goTenna mesh networking turns everything in the world around us into programmable mobile infrastructure. Our vision flies in the face of telecommunications orthodoxy, which naturally aligns us with Founders Fund and other partners who thrive on challenging outdated industries."

This announcement follows tremendous success for the company's products. The company has landed various multi-million-dollar U.S. government contracts for both hardware and software and is rapidly expanding to meet demand in international markets. goTenna Pro customers include all branches of the U.S. military and most agencies within the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, as well as local and state organizations. goTenna has focused on creating a development platform which allows for seamless integration with industry-leading applications such as ATAK (U.S. Air Force) and LifeRing (Agis, Inc.), enabling interoperability between myriad agencies and communications systems.

"goTenna is fundamentally changing the game for emergency responders and military forces by enabling connectivity at all times," said Trae Stephens, partner at Founders Fund. "We are excited by the growth opportunities in the public sector and beyond, and proud to support goTenna's mission to extend the edge of connectivity around the world."

About goTenna:
goTenna is advancing universal access to connectivity by building the world's most intelligent and scalable mobile mesh networks. goTenna is the world's leading mobile mesh networking company, providing off-grid connectivity solutions for smartphones and other devices, as well as augmenting traditional communications networks. This technology enables mobile, long-range connectivity even without cell, wifi or satellite connectivity. goTenna's drive to create resilient connectivity began during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when approximately a third of cell towers and power stations in affected areas failed. Based in Brooklyn, goTenna is backed by investors including Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Bloomberg Beta. For more information, visit gotenna.com.

About Founders Fund:
Founders Fund invests in the world's most important and valuable companies across all sectors and stages. The firm has been an early backer of some of the most impactful companies of the past decade, including SpaceX, Palantir, Airbnb, Stripe and Facebook. Founders Fund pursues a founder-friendly investment strategy, providing maximum support with minimum interference.

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SOURCE goTenna