Aurora Insight, a company providing insight into the radio spectrum at the advent of 5G, today announced $18 million in funding following Series A earlier this year led by Alsop Louie Partners and True Ventures. Tippet Venture Partners, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Promus Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, ValueStream Ventures, and Intellectus Partners also participated in the funding.
Radio spectrum, the airwaves that make wireless communication possible, is a scarce and finite resource facing exponential demand. More and more emerging technologies depend on wireless connectivity – from self-driving cars to smart cities – and data traffic continues to increase 46 percent year-over-year.
As such, spectrum has become one of the most valuable resources in the digital economy. Aurora Insight's scalable, proprietary approach addresses the fundamental need for actionable insight into the spectrum environment, enabling both wireless-centric operators and wireless-enabled technologies to stay ahead of new deployments, anticipate performance, and expand connectivity farther, faster.
The company, which has been quietly delivering spectrum intelligence across four continents to select clientele, will use the funding to scale deployment of its data-as-a-service offering to advance the frontier of wireless connectivity.
"The boundaries of wireless are being redrawn," said Brian Mengwasser, Aurora Insight co-founder and CEO. "It's not just about phones anymore. Buildings have become base stations, factories operate their own LTE and 5G networks, and connected cars have five integrated receivers for different networks. Our customers don't have the time or money to deploy fleets of trucks and spectrum analyzers to determine if their wireless solutions are going to work. We enable more companies to design-to-reality and get more out of limited spectrum, which is part of everyone's technology stack now."
Conventional methods of measuring spectrum, which are usually ad hoc, limited, and painstaking field measurements, are outdated and offer poor visibility into spectrum availability and its impact on wireless applications. Aurora has developed an autonomous sensor network, powered by machine learning and digital signal processing, to continuously sample and render the full radio spectrum environment into the first 'dynamic map' of connectivity.
"The reality of massive MIMO beamforming, high frequencies, and dynamic access techniques employed by 5G networks means it's both more difficult and more important to quantify the radio spectrum," said Gilman Louie of Alsop Louie Partners, now a board member of Aurora. "Having the accurate and near-real-time feedback on the radio spectrum that Aurora's technology offers could be the difference between building a 5G network right the first time, or having to build it twice."
"Wireless spectrum is one of the most critical and valuable parts of the communications ecosystem worldwide," said Rohit Sharma, partner at True Ventures and Aurora Insight board member. "To date, it's been a massive challenge to accurately measure and dynamically monitor the wireless spectrum in a way that enables the best use of this scarce commodity. Aurora's proprietary approach gives businesses a unique way to analyze, predict, and rapidly enable the next-generation of wireless-enabled applications." True Ventures initially invested in the company in 2017.
Visit www.aurorainsight.com to learn more about Aurora's dynamic map of spectrum and connectivity.
About Aurora Insight
Aurora Insight offers the world's first dynamic global map of radio spectrum to inform the next generation of wireless services. Through an autonomous sensor network and machine-learning of digital signals, Aurora continuously samples and reports on the full radio spectrum, from licensed infrastructure to dynamic utilization, enabling the best use of this scarce commodity. Companies around the globe rely on Aurora Insight's unmatched data to help analyze, predict, and transform the next generation of applications.
About Alsop Louie Partners
Alsop Louie Partners is a venture capital firm specializing in growth capital and early stage investments. It seeks to invest in mobile sectors, cyber security, cloud, infrastructure, digital media and enterprise software. Alsop Louie Partners was founded in 2006 and is based in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit: www.alsop-louie.com.
About True Ventures
Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology startups. With more than $2 billion under management, True provides seed and Series A financing to entrepreneurs in today's fastest growing markets. To learn more, visit www.trueventures.com.
