[January 22, 2015]

Fastback Networks Secures $15 Million Series C to Meet Growing Demand for LTE Backhaul

Fastback Networks® today announced $15 million in Series C financing led by Harmony Partners along with existing investors Foundation Capital, Granite Ventures, Juniper Networks (News - Alert), and Matrix Partners. The investment will fund scaling of the company in response to accelerating demand for the Fastback Intelligent Backhaul Radio™ solution for LTE (News - Alert) backhaul. The Series C enables the company to expand customer service and support, operations, marketing, sales, and ongoing product development.

"Fastback has rapidly established itself as a leader in the LTE backhaul market," said Mark Lotke, Managing Partner, Harmony Partners. "Fastback's superior technology and significant early traction position the company for exceptional growth as the explosion of mobile data usage continues to drive transformation of LTE infrastructure."

"We are pleased with the addition of Harmony Partners, and the continued support of all of our previous investors," said Kevin J. Duffy, CEO & Co-founder, Fastback Networks. "This financing enables Fastback to continue to build on the tremendous momentum we achieved in 2014, and seize the breakout opportunities emerging in 2015. Series C enables further expansion of our customer and market engagement, providing high performance LTE backhaul to a growing number of carriers as networks evolve to deliver ubiquitous LTE, Voice-Over-LTE (VoLTE), and LTE-Advanced service."

Market adoption of the Fastback solution has progressed on a fast paced trajectory. The Intelligent Backhaul Radio (IBR) is FCC and ETSI (News - Alert) certified, and is qualified and deployed in multiple Tier 1 US mobile networks across 5 of the largest US cities, enabling service providers to accelerate deployment of LTE services. With a ost of technologies never before combined in a single device, Fastback's IBR uniquely satisfies all the stringent backhaul requirements of LTE macro cell and small cell sites under all conditions. Service providers need not delay LTE service while waiting to install fiber for backhaul. The IBR enables fast and affordable expansion of LTE service to meet demand today.

Fastback was established with the vision to develop the wireless backhaul technology needed for the coming LTE mobile infrastructure, recognizing that legacy 3G backhaul solutions, which rely on access to line of sight microwave or wireline backhaul, are inadequate for pervasive high density LTE service. Following an $11 million Series A financing in 2011, Fastback emerged from stealth in 2012, unveiling an unprecedented backhaul solution invented for the current and future requirements of the LTE network. Matrix Partners led a $15 million Series B round in May 2013, joined by all Series A investors, Foundation Capital, Granite Ventures, and Juniper Networks Junos Innovation Fund.

About Harmony Partners

Harmony Partners is a bi-coastal boutique venture capital firm backing bold entrepreneurs who are scaling remarkable products. With offices in Silicon Valley and New York City, Harmony fills a gap in the market for entrepreneur-friendly expansion stage capital by eliminating the deal constraints of traditional growth capital, helping entrepreneurs craft the ideal financing. Since 1993, the founding partners have invested in over 65 technology-driven companies including Aveksa, ComScore, Coremetrics, E*Trade, Infinity, Intersect ENT, Natera, Predictive Systems, Priceline, Peribit, Scopus, SS&C, Swype, Synapse, and Xactly (News - Alert). To learn more, please visit www.harmonyvp.com.

About Fastback Networks

Fastback Networks was founded with a vision to deliver innovative technology for the mobile infrastructure of the future, enabling network operators to deliver new services, tap new markets and monetize a new generation of mobile applications. With insights derived from the collective team's experience building leading edge radio and data networking solutions, Fastback Networks looked at the challenges of 4G/LTE deployment with fresh eyes and better ideas, and developed a transformational mobile transport solution that enables the acceleration of next generation mobile services. Fastback Networks is a privately held company funded by Foundation Capital, Granite Ventures, Harmony Partners, Juniper Networks Junos Innovation Fund, and Matrix Partners. More information is available at www.fastbacknetworks.com.

Fastback Networks, Intelligent Backhaul Radio (IBR), are registered trademarks or trademarks of Fastback Networks. Copyright 01/2015, Fastback Networks. All rights reserved.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]